With nearly 20 percent of Georgia’s population uninsured – many living in Atlanta – the city has teamed up with a leading pharmaceutical company to develop a guide to connect them with affordable health care services.
On Tuesday, Mayor Kasim Reed, along with Pfizer's Gary Pelletier, and former U.S. Surgeon General unveiled the "Atlanta Regional Health Guide: Resources for the Uninsured," a comprehensive listing of health care resources in the metro region.
Targeted toward blacks and Hispanics, which make up a disproportionate number of the uninsured, the guides are in both English and Spanish and includes where to find affordable medical care, dentistry, substance abuse recovery centers, mental health care, as well as programs that offer medicines for free or low-cost.
“We hope to reach all uninsured and underinsured Atlantans with the message that health care is available to them, and easy to find through this new, free resource,” said Pelletier, director of Pfizer Helpful Answers.
Pelletier said the number of Georgia residents without health insurance has increased steadily, faster than the national rate. Between 1999 and 2009, the number of uninsured Georgians increased six percent, to 20.5 percent or one in five of the state’s population.
It is also disproportionate. He said while 17 percent of whites in the state are uninsured, 25 percent of blacks don’t have insurance. It is even worse for Hispanics, where 45 percent of them are uninsured.
“The disparities in health are real and measurable,” said David Satcher, director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine. “We know a lot about the disparities, but we are not without hope.”
Pfizer is printing an initial run of 50,000 copies of the 38-page guide, which offers, among other things, contact information for local community centers, HIV/AIDS awareness and cancer screening advice throughout the region. Pelletier said Atlanta is the first city to get the guide, following similar projects for the states of New Mexico and Arizona, as well as South Texas.
“We knew that there was a significant need here with so many uninsured minorities,” he said.
Get the guide free at local community health centers, through the National Association of Hispanic Nurses or the National Black Nurses Association, by calling 1-888-720-1337 Ext. 10 or downloading it at www.atlantaga.gov.
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