LAS VEGAS -- A non-profit group providing uninsured Nevadans with health care covers 16,000 northern Nevadans and is growing in southern Nevada, but it faces a major obstacle.
Patients in the network pay a $24 monthly fee, as well as, pay cash for doctor visits and surgeries. By doing so, they get a major discount. At issue, is University Medical Center, the county's only public hospital, has notified patients it can no longer help them.
"I can't sleep all night thinking about my health," said 62-year-old Carlito Alibangbang, a colon cancer survivor. He's retired yet too young for Medicare and he has no employer health insurance. When he was diagnosed with colon cancer, he was told his surgery would cost between $60,000 to $100,000.
The Access to Healthcare Network gave him a lifeline. It's one of the country's first medical cash discount plans. He ended up paying a $3,000 co-pay for a five-day hospital stay at University Medical Center.
People not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or an employer's insurance can pay $24 a month to the non-profit group. If they need primary care, medical specialists, or surgery, they pay cash. Missing one payment gets a patient booted out.
"We laugh and say we do everything but transplants. We deliver babies, we get them surgeries, we get them chemo, radiation, primary care, we are a medical home model. Everybody gets a primary care specialty. It really has become quite the shared responsibility model and community care project," said CEO Sherri Rice, Access to Healthcare Network.
Dr. Frank Nemec, a gastroenterologist, joined the network. He said, in some cases, it is better than an HMO.
"I would say that less than half of our staff is devoted to patient care. The other is administrative, dealing with insurance problems. Our access patients bypass all of that. There is no administration. They come in, they pay their up front fee, and they receive the care."
"Trust me, we've had to roll some real boulders uphill to get this program going," Rice said.
The network's success story took a major hit when the hospital that handles the majority of uninsured Clark County residents withdrew from the Access to Healthcare Network in late June. University Medical Center's CEO, Brian Brannman, calls Access to Healthcare Network a good program, but he's concerned the cash discounts may be too generous.
"There's a possibility we might be able to actually get a higher reimbursement from them through some other mechanism, I don't want to close that out," he said.
No hospital wants to be left holding the burden of the valley's uninsured patients. UMC's solution is to get private hospitals to share the load. Since the I-Team investigation began, the Access to Healthcare Network says three private hospitals verbally agreed to join.
"All the hospitals in the community have an obligation to provide for the population," Brannman said.
"I'm just a little CEO of a non-profit that's trying to save lives," Rice said.
Even without UMC, the Access to Healthcare Network still offers major cash discounts to several local doctors.
Carlito Alibangbang
Brian Brannman
