Pennsylvania Ranks of Uninsured Residents Grow. - The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA)

Byline: Brett Marcy

Oct. 5--Len Mulaski just wants to make sure he and his son have the medical insurance they need should either one of them fall prey to a serious illness or accident. He never thought it could steer him toward financial ruin.

But that's what Mulaski fears could happen, as he watches his health insurance premiums climb to nearly $300 a month.

Add in child support, rent and other monthly expenses, and Mulaski's $29,000 annual salary all but evaporates.

'I'm getting to the point where there's no point in going to work in the morning,' said Mulaski, 37, of Kingston.

An employee of the Social Security Administration's Wilkes-Barre Data Operations Center for the past 7 1/2 years, Mulaski said he has seen his health-care insurance premium skyrocket during the past few years.

'If I was able to, I'd have taken what comes and pay out of pocket, and basically just keep my fingers crossed that no accidents happen,' he said.

Apparently, more and more people have decided to take that approach, choosing to do without insurance in lieu of paying the ever-rising costs.

That trend, in addition to more small employers choosing not to provide their workers with insurance coverage, has led to Pennsylvania's recent ranking as one of 18 states where the percentage of uninsured residents grew between 2001 and 2002.

Nationwide, the number of uninsured Americans increased by 2.4 million, to 43.6 million, according to a report issued by the U.S. Census last week.

Pennsylvania's percentage of uninsured residents grew by 1.3 percent, to 9.7 percent of the population. Although the jump was among the largest nationwide, Pennsylvania's rate of uninsured residents is low compared to other states, such as Texas with 24.1 percent, New Mexico with 22 percent and California with 18.7 percent.

Still, the fact that the rate of uninsured Pennsylvanians is on the rise has local and state officials worried.

'Our health-care system needs help; changes need to be made,' said Lois Myers, coordinator of the Wilkes-Barre Free Medical Clinic.

'There are entirely too many people who are uninsured and have nowhere to look for help.

Open nearly a year now, the clinic has seen a gradual increase in the number of patient visits, from three or four people a week in the beginning to nearly a dozen a week now, Myers said.

Most patients don't fit the stereotypical profile -- homeless, poor, unemployed -- but rather are lower-middle class with part-time jobs or full-time jobs that don't provide insurance.

'These people are caught,' Myers said. 'They're out there trying to work and take care of their families, and they just can't afford health care. It's extremely difficult for them.'

At the Interfaith Health Clinic, located at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre, the story is much the same. The number of patients has jumped there by 12.6 percent through August, compared with the same period last year.

In addition to free clinics, there are other options available to uninsured patients, such as the Healthy Northeast Access Program, based at the University of Scranton. The program connects the estimated 55,000 uninsured people in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties to a network of low-cost health-care services.

The Healthy Northeast Access Program is a partnership of four providers -- Wyoming Valley Family Practice Residency Program in Kingston, Rural Health Corp. of Northeastern Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, the Scranton Primary Health Care Center and the Scranton-Temple Health Care Center.

The Wyoming Valley Family Practice Residency Program, based at the Nesbitt Memorial Health Center, sees 22,000 to 26,000 patient-visits a year, according to Dr. William Host, president and chief executive officer of the Wyoming Valley Health System.

'Anybody who comes to that center, we take care of,' Host said. 'We had been losing about $400,000 a year, running that center, and we're now up to the point where we're losing about $500,000 a year.'

If the Nesbitt center were not available, those 26,000 patients would flood the emergency rooms of local hospitals, Host said. No matter what, though, no one is turned away for lack of ability to pay.

'We don't do that,' Host said. 'It just is not an option.'

'I think we here have felt the pressure to be much more creative and much more resourceful in trying to find ways to help patients,' said Dr. Maureen Litchman, center director for the Wyoming Valley Family Practice Residency Program.

Gov. Ed Rendell was so concerned about the health-care crisis that he created the Office of Health Care Reform and named Rosemarie Greco director of the new office.

'I vacillate every day on whether we should just tear down the whole system and start from scratch, or if we can salvage the system that we have,' Greco said. 'Right now, I'm on the fence.'

Meanwhile, working Americans, such as Mulaski of Kingston, straddle the fence every day as to whether they should continue to pay the rising medical insurance premiums or drop their coverage and hope for the best.

Mulaski has made his decision for now.

'I need medical coverage. I really can't do without it.'

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(c) 2003, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.