Uninsured Medical Encounters in the Austin/Travis County Clinics
| 1995 | 1996 | |
| Self-Pay 0% | 28,528 | 29,204 |
| Self-Pay 25% | 425 | 2,232 |
| Self-Pay 50% | 19 | 4 |
| Self-Pay 75% | 9 | 10 |
| Self-Pay 90% | – | 30 |
| Self-Pay 100% | 2,363 | 3,011 |
| Total Self-Pay | 31,344 | 34,491 |
| Total Med. Encounters | 102,014 | 112,172 |
Uninsured encounters represented a disproportionately large portion of the surge in Austin/Travis County clinic trafficbetween 1995 and 1996 — the number of clinic visits for whichthe patient paid less than 25% of the cost of service increasedby about 2,500 encounters. Meanwhile, the amount of revenuethe clinic system got from patient payments as a percentage of total revenue dropped from 61.7% in 1995 to 57.2% in 1996.
Number of Austin/Travis County Clinic Users by Insurance Status
| 1995-96 | 1997-98 | |
| Medicaid | 4,194 | 9,982 |
| Medicare | 10,711 | 3,408 |
| MAP | 9,321 | 9,068 |
| Self-Pay (uninsured) | 16,298 | 18,341 |
| Other | 6,816 | 8 |
| Total | 47,340 | 40,807 |
From 1995-98, the number of uninsured patients increased by about 2,000 while the insured Medicare population plunged. The increase in the Medicaid population is very recent and may be temporary — the result of patients dumped from the rolls of managed-care Medicaid plans when two local HMOs withdrew from that program. Austin/Travis County HHS officials estimate the percentage of self-pay clinic users now represents about 40% of all city clinic patients and over half of all county clinic patients.
Source: 1997 Osborne Consultants and Austin/Travis County HHS
This article appears in March 12 • 1999 and March 12 • 1999 (Cover).