Area doctors are trying to offer a cure for unaffordable medical bills.
The Summit County Medical Society recently launched a website designed to help uninsured patients and others find less expensive or free health care.
The free tool — http://helpwithmedicalcosts.com — provides information and links for state and federal health insurance programs, hospital charity-care guidelines, low-cost dental and medical clinics, prescription drug assistance and other help.
“The doctors face it every day,” said Dr. Todd Beyer, an ophthalmologist in Tallmadge who is president of the nonprofit physician group. “As more and more people become uninsured, it’s bad. A lot of people are in this boat. We were trying to do something to help.”
According to an index developed by Consumer Reports magazine to gauge the health of the economy from the consumer perspective, more than 16 percent of Americans can’t afford their medical bills.
The region’s high unemployment rate is causing many residents to lose their health coverage. Uninsured patients pay the full price for care, not the steeply discounted rates negotiated by government or private insurers.
Summit County’s unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in July, the most recent period available from the state. (The August unemployment rate will be released today and posted on www.ohio.com.)
“When people lose their employer’s provided benefits, they are unfortunately in a situation where they have to pay what I call the ‘list rate’ for health care,” Beyer said. “What happens is the uninsured get hit the worst.”
The medical society had been offering access to discounted blood tests through an online company until the national lab chain used for the tests shuttered the program this year.
When that happened, the doctors came up with the idea of developing a comprehensive website that lists other patient resources, said Dr. Doug Lefton, a Fairlawn primary-care physician who is coordinating the project on behalf of the medical society.
“People who are not getting care because they think they can’t afford it should look at this site,” Lefton said.
The medical society contracted with former Akron Beacon Journal columnist Diane Evans’ digital media firm, SunLit Communications LLC, to develop the website.
Evans spent hundreds of hours over three months researching programs and gathering information to share with consumers.
The easy-to-use format often provides links directly to online applications.
“There is so much out there,” she said. “It was almost a labor of love, because there is so much valuable information.”
Mitzi Kotler, 64, of Akron, recently used the website at the suggestion of Lefton, her primary doctor.
Kotler has an individual health plan that limits her number of doctor visits each year and pays only a small portion of the cost for the medical care she receives.
Because she has a serious pre-existing condition, she can’t find insurance that will cover her.
By using an interactive survey from the National Council on Aging that is available on the website, Kotler was able to apply for three programs that might be able to help pay for her health care.
“It’s been so helpful,” she said. “It gave me information I did not have.”
Much of the information is applicable statewide or nationwide, but a portion lists local programs.
Ultimately, the local medical society wants to develop similar websites that other medical societies statewide can sponsor as a way to reach more patients and to help offset the maintenance costs, Lefton said.
“It would help more people in other counties,” he said. “We would be able to spread the cost of updating it over more medical societies. Our plan is to go viral.”
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.
