Free clinics and volunteer-based medical services in Osceola County are regularly booked to capacity, but with budget cuts and an economic downturn that has left some residents uninsured, more and more of them are turning to social services for health care.

According to Community Vision, about 31 percent of Osceola County residents don’t have health insurance, or are underinsured.

The statistic can be attributed to the economic downturn and a 12.8 percent unemployment rate for the county, Osceola County Health Department Director Belinda Johnson-Cornett said.

“Either they lost their jobs, or they can’t afford it (health insurance),” Johnson-Cornett said. “It all comes down to the economy.”

Most local residents without access to health insurance use the department for medical services, but cuts in Medicaid reimbursement have meant less money to subsidize the care of the uninsured, Johnson-Cornett said.

However, the number of uninsured people walking through the department’s doors continues to increase. From January to June of this year, 70 percent of the patients at all three Health Department offices were uninsured, compared to 35 percent in 2008.

To help offset the increased amount going in for medical non-emergencies, the department enacted in March an emergency room diversion program meant to promote the use of the department’s health centers and reduce the repeated use of hospital emergency departments by non-emergency Medicaid patients, ultimately reducing costs to the Medicaid program.

The ER diversion program connects healthcare providers and hospitals around the county to search and schedule appointments for non-emergency patients.

Since March, the department’s program has had 3,374 visits, including 1,563 new patients. Of those new patients, 981 were uninsured, Johnson-Cornett said.

The department also partners with local social services, which offer free clinics or volunteer-run medical services around the county.

But those local services are already keeping busy, due to increased demand.

The Osceola County Council on Aging, which provides medical services to the working poor of Osceola County, has seen its demand increase in the past five months.

“Five months ago, you get appointments within two or three weeks,” Chris Hoagland, supervisor of nursing and director of the council’s adult daycare center, said. “Right now, we’re booked until January.”

The nonprofit used to serve mostly the working poor with medical assistance, Hoagland said, but it has shifted to help unemployed locals now left without health insurance previously available to them through their employer.

In St. Cloud, the St. Thomas Aquinas Free Clinic consistently books all of its first-come, first-serve appointments hours before the clinic doors open.

“We’re just always full,” Kelly Bender, the clinic’s office manager said.

And with a national debate on health care reform currently ongoing, those who have been left without insurance said they are wondering what’s going to happen next.

Osceola County resident Julia Ferris works full-time, but can’t afford health insurance, she said.

“I think it’s more than pathetic,” she said. “We’ve got people who have health care needs.”