Florida Health Insurance
Florida’s health status
Florida’s health care status is not very good, being rated this year by the United Health Foundation as the fifth least healthy state in the US. This is Florida’s worst ranking since 2001, and despite the Health system in Florida has usually been in the top 10 for the past eight years, the drop from number 41 to number 45 in the ranking means that there are Key issues that need to be looked upon immediately to improve the health of the people in Florida.
Vital factors that made the overall health rank decrease include a high incidence of infectious disease at 36.3 cases per 100,000 population (despite dropping slightly, it’s still the third worst in the nation), one of the highest percentages of people with no Health Insurance (20.7% for the past two years), a very high violent crime rate (4th worst in the US, with 723 offenses per 100,000 population) and the second worst geographic disparity in the country (20.5% disparity within the state). Florida ranks lower for health determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness may decline over time.
But though it seems that the things are not very good for the population of Florida, some improvements can be seen in the rankings, that show that with the appropriate measures, funding, and a bit of impulse, the situation can be improved greatly. For example, the Prevalence of Smokers has been reduced almost two percent in one year, to 19.3% of Floridians, and the violent crime rate, though still very high, has also been dropping since 1990. More public funding is needed (the state received about $64 per person in 2008, as well as more primary care physicians and options to make Health Insurance more accessible. This is Florida’s biggest challenge, to lower the percentages of population that lack Health Insurance.
Florida has many issues that need to be worked upon to make their Health system better, and to provide better Health Insurance for everyone. As good as the system might be, it needs to be more accessible and reach out to more people than it currently does. This could prevent the high percentage of preventable deaths and other issues that are affecting the overall health status of the Florida citizens.
Florida health insurance information
Florida has one of the lowest percentages of people with health insurance, only about 80% of the citizens in Florida have Health Insurance, and this number has been dropping over the past few years as well. This means that roughly 20% of the population in Florida has no Health Insurance, and this fact, alongside the very high geographical disparity within the state shows that accessibility is one of the biggest problems of the Health Care in Florida. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees has also been decreasing, and at 51.2% it’s another issue to be worked on. Nevertheless, 78.3% of workers take the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers.
Despite a very average primary health care coverage and combined with one of the highest percentages of geographical disparity in the country, Health Care is relatively accessible when needed, with the percentage of population that could get medical care when needed at when needed at 84.9%. Despite the big percentage of people that lack Health Insurance, the patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 12.6%, a low number.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Best health plans in Florida
The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for Florida as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.
Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.
Get involved
If you are concerned about Florida’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.
If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.
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| Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 State officials:
Official Florida health insurance information
| Recent Florida health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Florida and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Florida: |
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