Local Providers Celebrate National Health Center Week
Jenn Stanley-Commonwealth News Service
BOSTON – Providers, administrators and patients across the country are celebrating.
About 988,000 patients of all ages and ethnicities get their care at the state’s community health centers, according to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.
About 44% of those patients are insured through Medicaid.
A recent WalletHub survey ranked Massachusetts second among states for health care.
Jill Gonzalez, communications director for WalletHub, says while the state ranks high overall, health-care costs for those who are uninsured are high because of low premiums for those who are insured.
“Those who are not insured, which is really not a lot of people, only about 2% of those in Massachusetts, are going to see very high costs of medical visits or dental visits because the average monthly premium for those insured is so low,” he points out.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the average cost of health care in America is about $10,000 a year per person.