Maximize funding so Sendero can keep serving the underprivileged
In recent years, Travis County has enhanced how it provides health care to the underprivileged and medically fragile members of our community. In addition to the Community Care Collaborative and the Dell Medical School, Central Health founded Sendero Health Plans as an additional means to provide care to the underserved in our area.
Today, the Central Health Board will vote on its budget and business plans for the coming year. When doing so, I am hopeful they will continue to support Sendero and its programs, especially in these tight budget times.
One way to keep and secure more funds for care and enhance Central Health’s budget is by moving more of the community members who currently receive care through Central Health’s Managed Access Program (MAP) onto Sendero’s health plan. Sendero’s plan covers and provides for the same care as the MAP: prescriptions; primary, specialty and hospital care for low-income individuals; and behavioral health services. This approach would function similarly to the current successful program which provides Sendero coverage for Travis County musicians through the SIMS Foundation and the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
Since Sendero is a regulated insurance company in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the company could keep and use tens of millions of dollars in funds if Sendero serves MAP members. In 2016, that amounted to $30.5 million that Sendero would have had available for care. Additionally, Sendero would be eligible to collect millions more in federal funds. Because of the MAP structure, it is not eligible to draw down these same funds – meaning the county needlessly leaves millions of federal dollars on the table.
Central Health created Sendero in 2011 to better manage and coordinate the health care needs of the populations it serves and “to generate and diversify Central Health’s revenue base, the surplus of which (could) be reinvested for improvements of central Texas’ local health care system.” While the “purchase” of insurance for MAP members increases immediate costs, this proposed change helps achieve the stated goal of the creation of the plan.
Since covering its first members in 2012 through the end of this current year, it will have leveraged local funding to secure a total of $500 million for health care from the federal and state government, and from the premiums its members pay. By partnering with most of Austin’s health care providers, it has been able to use those funds to deliver care to over 150,000 area residents, primarily those below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
But it isn’t just funding that creates good health care.
The Austin American-Statesman recently reported on the serious concerns local health officials have about the state’s low vaccination rate for human papillomavirus (HPV), which will most certainly lead to countless preventable cancer diagnoses in the future. Sendero had already recognized this gap and had successfully designed and implemented a program that increased HPV vaccinations by over 33 percent among 10- to 13-year-olds last year.
Other improvements in care include increasing breast cancer screening by 10 percent, including prompting the early detection of at least three cases that members say would have otherwise gone undiscovered, and increasing flu vaccinations by 25 percent for young adults. Additionally, Sendero continues to work on many of the latest issues that have made headlines, including opioid abuse and hepatitis C.
These are the kinds of unsung, hard-won achievements that are already delivering real improvements to the health of our community, and especially to our low income and underserved. Sendero also continues to support for the ACA Marketplace despite the challenges, offering the broadest network at the lowest prices to the community.
As a former board member for Central Health and former board chair for Sendero, I believe this proposal is a true win-win in providing better health care to our community. By doing so, Central Health will maximize Sendero’s opportunity to fulfill the promise envisioned when it was created — and more importantly, improve the health of our community.
Ever thought about bringing an NFL team to Austin? Of course not; the NFL doesn’t fit here. Austin’s economy grows because of high tech and the diversity of our Hispanic and Asian populations. These moms want their kids to play soccer.
It puzzles many University of Texas faculty prospects we interview at the McCombs School for Business that Austin does not have an MLS team. I have lived and taught here for 40 years. We need a professional soccer team that would be in line with the professional, intellectual and diverse profile of Austin population growth.
Austin economist Angelos
Re: June 21 letter to the editor, “‘Mr. Rogers’ was fine choice to emulate.”
I felt great joy reading the letter in Thursday’s paper. It brought me hope and quieted my despair to hear our shared American values expressed as kindness, love, thoughtfulness and care. Like Rogers, the writer wants to make the world a better place. I bet most Americans agree because that is who we are.
Legislation moving through Congress aims to turn these values into action. The Reach Every Mother and Child Act will have a worldwide impact on the lives of women and children, especially newborns. It aligns our actions with our values and deserves our support. Let your members of Congress know you care. Urge them to cosponsor this legislation and demonstrate America’s true values.