Genesee County Voters Will Be Asked to Renew Health Services Millage That Supports Uninsured and Underinsured Residents

According to the Genesee County Health Equity Report Card (HERC), published by researchers at Michigan State University, more than 6 percent of the county’s population overall and nearly 8 percent of the city of Flint’s population younger than 65 don’t have health insurance. Those numbers increase even more when factoring in people who are underinsured, which means high costs or coverage gaps leave people in peril in the event of a medical emergency that won’t be fully covered or covered at all by their insurance.

Michelle Estel, health officer for the Genesee County Health Department, points out that there is a wide range of examples in which people could find themselves without insurance or without enough insurance to cover needed care.

“That could mean seniors who don’t qualify for Medicare yet, or students who have aged out of their parents’ insurance and don’t have insurance of their own yet, or sometimes when people lose or change jobs, there’s gaps in their insurance,” Estell said. 

To help residents in those types of situations, Genesee County voters initially passed a Health Care Services millage in 2006 and renewed it in 2012 and 2018. Voters will be asked to renew the millage again for five years from 2027-31 on their November 2 ballot. If re-approved, the county would continue levying a .8 mill tax (or $.80 per $1,000 of taxable property value) and generate a little over $11.2 million during the first year of the renewal. If renewed, the millage would not be a tax increase, it would continue what residents are already paying each year.

Millage funds go to the Health Department, but are distributed through several other health-related organizations in the community, including Genesee Health Plan, which provides healthcare coverage to uninsured and underinsured residents county-wide. Millage funds provide healthcare and dental care coverage and services through several partner organizations.

Funds also helped support the creation of COMPASS (Community Outreach Mobile-unit: Providing Access, Support, and Services), a 38-foot mobile health bus equipped with lab space, phlebotomy space, an exam room, restroom, and other equipment that was unveiled earlier this year. COMPASS allows the health department to take services directly to senior and community centers, local events, and other spaces to help residents to connect to care easier.

“It does help provide financial support for several of our programs within the health department that serve underinsured or uninsured Genesee County residents,” Estell said. “It has also helped fund the first Genesee County Health Department mobile unit called the COMPASS, which is designed to meet the people where they are and take services into the community where it’s needed most. That was something that the residents had asked us for. In addition to that, it helps us overall just to improve the public health of Genesee County residents. It can’t all be done in the confines of the Health Department alone. So we frequently work with our cross-sector partners, and there are many partners in the community that are also providing similar services or other services that this millage helps financially support.”

Estell also pointed out that the millage helps support an indigent care agreement with Genesee County Jail so that residents who are incarcerated are still able to access healthcare when they need it. Funds also go to local hospitals and hospital systems to reimburse for services provided to uninsured or underinsured patients.

“It (the millage funding) is very helpful in providing help to underinsured and uninsured residents,” Estell said. “Without it, there is a potential that we wouldn’t be able to help as many people. It helps improve health services and health equity for everyone, and allows us to often work with other partners across the community, so it has definitely benefitted more (organizations) than just the Health Department.”