Partnership between law firm, free clinics is helping those cut off from health care coverage

Less than two months before the $60,000 surgery, Graciela received notice that her state health insurance was ending. She had to pay out of pocket.

But thanks to help from a nonprofit public interest law firm called ABC For Health, her coverage was restored. The surgery was performed in January at no cost to her.

“The ABC team identified procedural and legal errors that caused her coverage to erroneously end in December 2023 instead of its original date of March 2024,” the company reported.

Graciela is a pseudonym used by ABC For Health to protect patient privacy. The office said she received free legal services to restore BadgerCare Plus coverage through ABC For Health’s new partnership with 10 free clinics across the state, resulting in more than 800 people receiving medical care. He is said to be receiving benefits.

Graciela and more than half of the people receiving assistance under new partnerships such as BadgerCare Plus, Emergency Medicaid and Financial Assistance identify as Hispanic. Their main language is Spanish.

“We were surprised by the level of Spanish-speaking referrals we received,” said Bryn McBride, chief operating officer and public interest attorney at ABC for Health.

Of the roughly 70,000 patients the Madison-based organization has served over the past 30 years, about 20% are Spanish-speaking each year, McBride said.

“We billed ourselves as a health equity and social justice law firm, and we served exclusively low-income families across the state of Wisconsin,” McBride said. “But we weren’t able to catch all of these people. Thanks to the people at the free clinic, we were able to get to know people at a higher level who were previously missed.”

In Graciela’s case, ABC for Health says her coverage was terminated in error as states began reviewing Medicaid eligibility in response to pandemic-era mandates set to expire in March 2023. This process is known as “.relax”

According to KKF Health News, 64% of people Those whose registrations were terminated in Wisconsin during the termination process had their coverage terminated for procedural reasons. The State Department of Health Services 300,000 Wisconsinites Currently, medical insurance is not applicable.

McBride said not all Spanish-speaking patients referred to ABC For Health will be affected by the relaxation process. Some faced financial aid applications from hospitals that required a higher burden of proof for Spanish speakers. Others simply need a translator.

McBride said patients who call the help service line through a county agency partnered with the state often hang up if they are answered in English.

“When that happens, clients and patients collapse and they leave. They’re not coming back because they’ve already hit a wall,” she said.

A screening and referral tool known as FirstCheck Wisconsin allows free clinic staff to identify patients who are likely eligible for health insurance coverage but remain uninsured. These patients are referred to ABC For Health, where they can receive guidance and legal services.

Open Arms Free Clinic The clinic in Walworth County is one of 10 participating clinics across the state, which are staffed by volunteers and provide free services to people in the county, according to About 12 percent of county residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, higher than the state average of nearly 8 percent. 2020 Census.

“Spanish-speaking patients will do all the right things. They will call the financial advocacy program and try to apply. But because of the language barrier, there is confusion and some information is lost, which could lead to unfair denials,” clinic manager Jamie Wylie said.

The clinic serves workers in the tourism, agriculture and manufacturing industries, where most employers do not offer health insurance, according to its website. Wiley said most health care providers are focused on meeting patients’ immediate medical needs rather than helping eligible people access health insurance.

“We don’t have the capacity to be there for every patient who needs help,” Wiley said, “We can connect them to care, but ABC For Health has been able to provide legal advocacy.”

According to a 2022 study, an estimated 28% of uninsured residents are eligible for BadgerCare. market analysis For state authorities that regulate insurance companies.

The screening and referral tool used at the free clinic began with clinic staff submitting handwritten notes by fax to ABC For Health, McBride said. The tool is now digital and organizations hope to create automated referral capabilities soon.

ABC For Health hopes to expand the referral and screening tool to other free clinics in the future to ensure more people receive the medical benefits to which they are legally entitled.

“It’s going to take all of us,” McBride said. “People who live and work in Wisconsin deserve to be healthy.”

Eliminating medical debt

The company says the free clinic and ABC For Health partnership also eliminated about $600,000 in medical debt for families.

One Whitewater family interviewed by WPR said more than $60,000 in medical bills were wiped out. The bill stems from treatment for a cerebral arteriovenous malformation, which left the woman unable to walk without assistance and left with disability on the left side of her body.

“It was hard enough to accept my diagnosis, but then you get the bills and the phone calls. It was so hard,” the woman said.

After being referred to ABC For Health by Open Arms Free Clinic, she enrolled in BadgerCare Plus, which gave her retroactive coverage and eliminated her medical debt.

“Right now we are the happiest poor people in the world,” she said.