A $199,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Population Affairs will be used by the Arizona Family Health Partnership (AFHP) to help enroll an estimated 1,350 Pima County individuals currently without health insurance for health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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In 2013, less than one percent of clients seeking reproductive health services at Title X-funded clinics in Pima County carried health insurance. AFHP will partner with the Pima County Health Department (PCHD) to implement the initiative.
The grant provides funding for three ACA enrollment navigators and one part-time project coordinator to provide enrollment assistance at three Title X clinics in the city of Tucson and through the PCHD Mobile Clinic, which serves the county’s rural population. AFHP will provide direction and technical support for the effort, which will be managed by PCHD staff.
Title X-funded clinics provide services for free or on a sliding scale based on income to financially struggling men, women and families. In 2013, AFHP served more than 35,000 individuals throughout Arizona including 7,054 in Pima County. Title X funds cannot be used for abortion services.
“This is a major step in not only increasing the number of individuals with insurance but also in decreasing dependence on Title X funds that can be allocated to other areas of need,” said AFHP CEO Brenda “Bre” Thomas. “If we hit our goal, nearly 20 percent of the more than 7,000 clients who received services at AFHP-funded clinics in Pima County in 2013 will have insurance.”
Demographics in Pima County show that one in four females live below 125 percent of the federal poverty level and are financially eligible for Medicaid. Nearly 20 percent of the more than 224,000 females between the ages of 15 and 49 living in Pima County in 2012 were uninsured.
“Providing access to preventative and consistent health-care services is critical to ensuring healthy families and healthy babies,” said PCHD Coordinator Spencer Graves. “This grant will eliminate financial barriers that may be preventing individuals from seeking the services they need. This is particularly critical for individuals and families living in rural areas who may not have access to nearby health care providers or primary physicians.”
Projections are to begin enrolling individuals through outreach and open enrollment in October.
For more information about AFHP, visit www.arizonafamilyhealth.org. For more information about the Pima County Health Department, visit http://webcms.pima.gov/government/health_department.
Contacts:
• Spencer Graves, Pima County Health Department, (520) 724-8239
• Brenda “Bré” Thomas, CEO, Arizona Family Health Partnership, (602) 258-5777
• Steve Carr, The Kur Carr Group, Inc., (602) 317-3040
Arizona Family Health Partnership is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to making reproductive healthcare and education available and accessible to all women, men and teens in Arizona, particularly those lacking resources and traditionally reluctant to seek health care. With greater access to services we provide, Arizona families will be healthier and stronger for generations to come. Arizona Family Health Partnership helps coordinate the services funded by the federal Title X program and run by more than a dozen partner agencies. For more information, visit www.arizonafamilyhealth.org.