ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996            TAG: 9612120034
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-6  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press

NUMBER OF UNINSURED VA. WORKERS RISES ACCESS TO SOME CARE ALSO A PROBLEM

The percentage of Virginians with no health care who work full time has risen sharply since 1993, while the overall percentage of uninsured residents has stayed about the same, legislators were told Wednesday.

Deborah Oswalt, executive director of the Virginia Health Care Foundation, presented results of a survey of 1,861 state residents to the General Assembly's Joint Commission on Health Care, which is studying ways to improve access to health care.

Oswalt said the telephone survey, conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University, found that 13 percent of all Virginians have no health care, a slight decrease from 14 percent in 1993. The survey has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points, she said.

Of the 855,528 uninsured Virginians, 57 percent were employed full time. That was up from 41 percent three years ago.

``Employers are offering insurance less, or they are offering it at such a high rate of employee contribution that the employees can't afford it,'' Oswalt said.

Virginians who are covered by government-funded Medicaid were counted among the insured in the survey, she said. Medicaid is one of the fastest growing areas in the state budget, with costs projected to increase 135 percent between 1990 and 1998.

The percentage of uninsured Virginians who are Asian or Hispanic increased from 2 percent to 14 percent while the percentage who are black fell from 34 percent to 20 percent.

``We don't know why,'' Oswalt said. The foundation received the survey results this week and has not had time to analyze the numbers.

Access to prescription medication and dental care remains a problem in Virginia, Oswalt said. She said 13 percent of respondents have declined to have a prescription filled because of cost, and 8 percent said someone in their household has taken a smaller-than-prescribed dose of medicine to save money.

Only 40 percent of those surveyed had dental insurance. Eleven percent had not been to a dentist in more than four years, and 6 percent had never had dental care.

Despite the shortcomings, 79 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with how the health care system is meeting their own needs. However, only 50 percent believed all Virginians' health care needs are being adequately met.

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