Posted at 1:02 p.m., Friday, October 27, 2006
$24 million grant to help pay for uninsured patients
Advertiser Staff
Hospitals statewide received a total of $24 million in federal grants to offset the costs of treating Hawai'i's uninsured patients.Sixteen private hospitals received portions of $17.5 million. An additional $3.4 million was given to Hawai'i Health Systems Corporation to assist four public hospitals and the corporation will receive another $3.4 million in January as part of the package from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The cost of covering the uninsured has grown by $52 million in the last five years, according to the Hawai'i Healthcare Association.
This is the second year in a row that the state was able to secure federal assistance for the problem and represents something of a coup for state officials.
It's estimated that 9.6 percent of Hawai'i residents — about 120,000 adults and children — are uninsured at any given time, according to the Hawai'i Uninsured Project.
