Description
-667,000 South Carolinians are uninsured and often cannot afford hearing aids, glasses, and other hearing or vision services.
-According to the US Census Bureau and the SC Budget and Control Board, approximately 13.1% of South Carolina’s population lived below the poverty level in the 3 year period of 2006 - 2008 (latest available data).
-SC Department of Employment and Workforce (SC DEW), reported that 187,673 individuals or 8.6% of the workforce remained unemployed in the month of February of 2013.
-According to the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, looking at health risk factors across the country, 24% of the state’s adults under the age of 65 are currently uninsured and 16% reported that they could not see a doctor in the past 12 months because of cost.
-Recent reductions in the budgets of state agencies like the SC Commission for the Blind and the pending decision of South Carolina not to participate in Medicaid expansion for the state puts significant additional pressure on local non-profit providers like SC Lions Charitable Services to fill the gap for the uninured and underinsured in our state.
-The Lions organization has over 40 years of experience in providing vision and hearing conservation services locally through a network of 163 clubs and 4,200 members throughout the state.
-So far this year, SC Lions Charitable Services has saved the SC healthcare system approximately $1,341,760 in eye surgeries, hearing aids and healthcare screenings ($618,590 in healthcare screenings alone).
-SCLCS receives NO Federal, State, or Medicaid reimbursements for these services and are only funded by individuals, civic, corporate, and foundation funding.
