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The Cameron County Indigent Department

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My research was based on The Cameron County Indigent Department. The name was changed to Cameron Care when the program was outsourced to Valley Baptist Medical Center. The program is a last resort assistance program that provides medical assistance to the needy, homeless, and the poor. The quote used above had many meanings for different situations. For this research paper it means that during our journey through life sometimes we lose our hope and reason for living. It is through perseverance and assistance programs that sometimes we find our way back. When other social departments, such as the Social Security Administration, Medicaid, or private insurance fail to provide adequate medical resources the Cameron County Indigent …show more content…

Texas Administrative Code, Title 25, Part 1, Chapter 14 establishes the County Indigent Health Care Program (CIHCP) rules regarding program administration, determining eligibility, and providing services. The Health and Safety Code which outlines the responsibilities of each County saw the emergence of the individual county indigent programs. The program offered medical assistance to the County’s Indigent population. By definition, indigent is defined as needy, or poverty stricken. The program was designed to assist the county residents who fell under this category. The Cameron County Indigent program was originally run by a department within the County’s administrative structure. The program met with great success but it also had many failures. Under the county’s indigent program hundreds of people were helped every year. It seemed like the medical needs of the indigent population might have found a solution. County officials realized that there was no control over the expenditures. What this meant was that the program usually ran out of funds before the fiscal year was over. This left many clients, present and future, without medical assistance. The program eligibility requirements were streamlined so that ineligible applicants would not be incorrectly classified and be considered eligible. In August of 2007 Cameron County decided to contract with Valley Baptist Health Services instead of going with the Rio Grande Valley

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