Ken Ulman and Dr. Peter Beilenson have been making headlines lately. Yesterday, in The Washington Post, the County Executive and his Health Commissioner co-authored an op-ed piece in the Metro section about the lessons learned so far in their Healthy Howard Access Plan. You can read that story here.
Earlier this month in this story by Robert Siegel on National Public Radio, Dr. Beilenson explained some of the pitfalls they’ve encountered in the seven months since the program began.
“Of the 10,000 uninsured adults who were eligible for Healthy Howard — people whose incomes are no more than three times the poverty level — only 200 people fully enrolled in the program that was designed specifically for them. An additional 390 are in the queue, which means they have passed the screening and are eligible, and are in the process of providing documentation to get enrolled. Total, that's not quite 600 people — less than 6 percent of the 10,000 who are eligible.”
So far this program seems to be better at generating press than patients.
Let’s Go, Girls
15 hours ago
2 comments:
It is becoming clear that, whatever good intentions there were initially, HHAP has evolved into a tool for getting Ulman and Beilenson an audience on the national stage. The program has no more value than that.
I have to agree with Freemarket...it seems like this program is a non-starter. I've followed it locally, and I heard the story on NPR and read the coverage in the Post. I think Mr. Ullman made an impractical decision based on ideology, and has wasted more then he wonted. Wrong level of government to cover this problem, and just a mark of hubris on his part. Did anyone see this coming as a failure? Yep.
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