Hillsborough County has a state-mandated obligation to provide residents living at poverty level with health care. Our award-winning program, Hillsborough HealthCare, actually is making it happen by ensuring that all Hillsborough County residents have access to quality medical care.

When most of us feel an illness coming on, we simply visit our primary care physician, or stop by a walk-in clinic. Unfortunately, there are many county residents who don’t have that option. Most working poor do not have the means to pay for health insurance and can't afford to seek health care until their medical problems become too severe to ignore. Often that means a trip to the emergency room and sometimes a hospital stay -- with Hillsborough County taxpayers paying the bill.

In many cases, the illnesses that send uninsured people to the emergency room are preventable. But with no means to pay for a doctor for routine check-ups, their illness becomes an emergency. That's exactly the situation that Hillsborough HealthCare works to change.

For the 1,500 physicians involved in Hillsborough HealthCare, preventing health problems is just as important as treating them. The plan is a managed health care system that focuses on prevention and early detection, thereby cutting down on expensive emergency room visits and hospital stays. This combination of disease management and prevention programs, the strategy currently used by managed care organizations, is proven to reduce future demands for high-cost medical treatments.

Hillsborough HealthCare is specifically designed for working people who live at poverty levels and who can't afford health insurance, yet whose income keeps them from receiving Medicaid. For most members, it is not a permanent health plan. More than 70 percent of members are in the program for less than one year.

Demographics show that the typical member of the plan is a single white female with an average age of 50. However, Hillsborough HealthCare serves a large and diverse group, including families and minorities. The program has been so successful in meeting community standards of care that the predominant reasons for hospital admissions have now changed from avoidable admissions to those that are typical for the general population. Most importantly, the program has improved the health and quality of life for the working poor of Hillsborough County.

Before Hillsborough HealthCare was developed, the cost of providing state-mandated charity care was skyrocketing at a rate of 17 percent per year. So in 1991, the Board of County Commissioners, together with its advisory board and civic leaders, successfully petitioned the Florida Legislature for authorization to levy a sales tax to help fund this innovative new health plan. Hillsborough HealthCare has been recognized nationally, not only for its ability to provide the working poor with access to preventive medicine, but also for achieving remarkable savings for taxpayers.

Hillsborough HealthCare has been recognized nationally, not only for its ability to provide the working poor with access to preventive medicine, but also for achieving remarkable savings for taxpayers.

Created as a public/private partnership, Hillsborough HealthCare services are provided through competitively selected contracts with four regional networks made up of primary care physicians, specialists, and hospitals.

Hillsborough HealthCare has proven to be a resounding success, garnering accolades both locally and nationally. It has been proven to be cost effective in integrating medical and social services, while improving the overall health of residents who live at poverty levels and cannot afford to pay for health care. The successes of this innovative approach to providing state-mandated health care have resulted in recognition by more than 100 municipalities interested in adopting some of its features to their unique programs. Hillsborough HealthCare also has received national awards from many prestigious institutions.