Welcome to Galveston CHAP

Our History

The CAP Grant
In March 2001, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) received word from the federal government that Galveston County had been awarded a Community Access Program (CAP) Grant for $900,000. One hundred percent access to health care and zero health disparities was the focus of CAP. The award would change the face of health care for the county's uninsured and under-insured forever. Renewal of the grant for three more years, would bring total CAP funding for Galveston County to nearly $2 million.

 

Earlier in 2001, the Galveston County Medical Society had convened a work group to examine the issue of indigent health care and the associated overwhelming costs to the Galveston County community. In FY'02 UTMB had provided over $79 million in uncompensated health care to Galveston County residents in need and Mainland Medical Center, the for-profit hospital in Texas City, had provided another $40 million in uncompensated care to Galveston County. The county budget allocated a mere $7 million for health care, with $2.2 million for public health (dog catchers and mosquito control), $2.7 million for primary health care and $2.1 million for secondary and tertiary health care.

 

Therefore, one of the first steps taken by the Medical Society's work group was to attract the attention of the Galveston County Commissioners' Court, the governing body responsible for the administration of the county's indigent health care budget. Pediatrician Ben Raimer championed this cause with the commissioners. More than a casual acquaintance of Galveston County Commissioners Court, Raimer actually cared for many of their children and taught County Judge Jim Yarbrough, chairman of the court, in Sunday school. Commissioners were not surprised, therefore, when Raimer, in his compassion and role as vice president for community outreach at UTMB, brought the plight of the poor, uninsured and under-insured in Galveston County to the forefront of the Commissioners' Court agenda.

 

As a result, the Commissioners' Court appointed the 40-member Galveston County Task Force for Indigent Health Care, chaired by Dr. Reza Jahadi, a former president of the Galveston County Medical Society. The task force, whose membership included Raimer and representatives of social service agencies, private physicians, Mainland Medical Center and community activists, set out to develop a cost-effective means of providing health care to those in need in Galveston County.

The task force developed a plan to finance indigent health care through a countywide, one-cent sales tax. The lieutenant governor dismissed the sales tax, which requires state legislative approval, in 2001, but only after it passed the Texas House of Representatives in a record unanimous vote.

 

"We cannot give up," said then Texas State Representative Patricia Gray, when the bill failed to reach the floor for a vote in the Texas Senate. "We are very much aware of the problems but we don't throw in the towel because someone says 'No.' We make them say 'No' out loud and in public."

 

The proposal met the same fate during the next legislative session. However, task force members have not rejected the one-cent sales tax as a means of funding indigent health care, but are examining other options as well.

 

Appointment of the task force actually followed the formation of a coalition of Galveston citizens determined to apply for and receive the CAP Grant. (This coalition would be come known as the Galveston County Health Access Program (GCHAP) following the receipt of the CAP grant.) On behalf of UTMB, Raimer mobilized these forces after sharp reductions in county funding whittled to 900 the number of medically indigent residents covered. These actions followed an invitation to former Hillsborough County, FL Commissioner Phyllis Busansky to a public lecture hosted by UTMB where she told Hillsborough's success story of establishing a community health care system for the uninsured.

 

In February 2002, GCHAP organized what could become one of its greatest contributions to indigent health care in Galveston County. Acting on a challenge from Judge Yarborough, hundreds of Galveston County residents marched on the Galveston County Commissioners' Court to demand additional funding for indigent health care. Those in attendance and more than 5,000 letters of support implored county government officials to "Have a Heart - 900 is Not Enough." As a result, the community became more involved with the issue of indigent health care and the commissioners approved a $500,000 increase in the county's budget for indigent health care. However, the new funds were never realized-the commissioners ended up taking the money back to finance legal fees in an unrelated case. Still, the work of Galveston CHAP went on.

 

When the CAP Grant was awarded to UTMB and Galveston County the initial charge from HRSA was to:

 

Throughout the first three years of the grant, the coalition's combined efforts proved highly successful. For the first time ever the right people were brought together around the same table to find solutions to common problems. Funding was extended to a fourth year, which concludes August 31, 2005, allowing the coalition to expend any unused dollars.