JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Health care programs that provide services to uninsured residents in Jacksonville may be at risk of losing city funding.
Several city council members met Wednesday evening to discuss the future of initiatives such as Jax Care Connect and Healthlink Jax, which have been used by many in the community.
According to information shared at the meeting, these programs reportedly generate a $105 return for every dollar spent, largely by reducing the number of emergency room visits among uninsured individuals.
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Jenica Ervin, a Jacksonville resident who has been out of work for over a year, said programs like Jax Care Connect and We Care have helped her access affordable health care while she searches for a new job.
“It’s instrumental in my mental health, because I’m not worrying about the financial debt that I could incur if I were to not have health insurance and I were to go to the ER,” Ervin said.
District 6 Councilman Michael Boylan, who hosted the meeting, said he is concerned about the possible loss of funding for these programs.
“The impact the loss of these kinds of services is going to have on taxpayers, certainly on the people who need these services. I just wanted to get my colleagues to understand the consequences,” Boylan said.
Dr. Matthew Thompson, co-founder of Healthlink Jax and CEO of Telescope Health, noted that an emergency room visit can cost between $5,000 and $7,000 for those without insurance.
“If you’re uninsured, you don’t feel like you have anywhere else to go, you’re going to get a bill for that,” Thompson said. “The city funds UF Health $56 million a year to take care of people as a taxpayer. Why would I want that money to go toward a $5,000 bill that could have been avoided? I want that money to go to people who have end-stage renal disease, who are very sick, who need surgery.”
Ervin said she hopes city leaders will consider the data before making any funding decisions.
“If they’re looking at the data, the data will reveal that cutting these programs will be detrimental to the community and the city of Jacksonville,” she said.
News4JAX reached out to Councilman Raul Arias, who chairs the city’s finance committee, regarding the concerns raised at the meeting, and we are awaiting a response.
