Healthy Work: What are the consequences of not providing health insurance on two county GOB projects

Two Miami-Dade County GOB projects, the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of Jackson South Community Hospital, will create thousands of construction jobs for local workers. But in order for these jobs to truly be a benefit to the community, all workers must be provided with health insurance. Uninsurance is costly for the community and governmetns and also creates stress and financial crises for families. In 2004 almost 72 percent of Miami-Dade emergency room visits by the uninsured were for minor, low or moderate acuity conditions, compared with 60.6 percent of visits by the commercially insured, a difference of over $17 million per year in charges that could be avoided if the uninsured had reliable access to care for non-emergency conditions.

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