| Article |
February 7, 2005
Inside Bay Area
Low-income families to lose health program
In July, end of Alliance Family Care to leave some 900 without coverage
Rebecca Vesely
A unique health insurance program for low income families in Alameda County is shutting down, leaving about 900 people without health coverage as of July.
The program, called Alliance Family Care, began in 2000 and proved extremely popular because it served a growing market - working families who cannot afford private health plans but make too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for the poor.
Families with household incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level - $47,010 for family of three - qualified, regardless of immigration status.
The Alameda Alliance for Health, a nonprofit state-licensed health plan serving Alameda County, created the program through state and local funds and foundation grants. At its height in 2003, about 6,000 adults and children were enrolled in the plan.
But a year ago the Alameda Alliance announced it was drastically scaling back the program because it could no longer afford it.
Now, the remaining 1,300 enrollees will be dropped at the end of June. The 400 children in Alliance Family Care will be automatically enrolled in a new health insurance program called Healthy Kids. The Alameda Alliance plans to enroll a total of 2,000 children in the new program, funded by foundation grants and county funds.
But about 900 adults will be on their own. Letters notifying the families of the change went out Jan 1.
"Before we ever do something like this again, we have to think about the long-term sustainability," said Ingrid Lamirault, CEO of the Alameda Alliance for Health.
Lamirault noted there are few other insurance options available to the adults enrolled in Alliance Family Care. Alameda County was the only county in the state to offer a plan to low-income adults.
"They’ll be dependant on the county system" of public hospitals and clinics, she said. "Unfortunately, it’s going to be an added burden."
The program was launched in 2000, when counties and the state were flush with cash. Now, Lamirault said, there are fewer funds and the focus is on health insurance for children. The cost of covering a child through Alliance Family Care was $91 a month, while an adult was $142 a month.
The Alameda Alliance spent $25 million over four years no Alliance Family Care. Last year the Alameda Alliance operated a $13 million loss.
"The adults are killing us," Lamirault said.
The Alameda Alliance also is shutting Alliance First Care, a commercial medical, dental and vision plan with no income restrictions. The monthly premium for a single person under 30 years was $294.
Although only about 80 people are enrolled in the program, it proved costly to run because, unlike individual private plans, people with pre-existing medical conditions could join. As a result, members proved to be heavy users of the health care system. Lamirault said.
Contact Rebecca Vesely at rvesely@dailyreviewonline.com.
Associated Press