Statement of Need

Dallas County has a growing population. It is the ninth largest county in the country. Dallas County added 39,809 people from July 2008 to July 2009. [Ref 1, 2] However, this growth is not without its problems:

In Dallas County, 33.2% of residents under the age of 65 have no medical coverage. This percentage is higher than that for the State of Texas, which in turn has the highest overall uninsured rate of any state in the nation. By contrast, nationally, 17.0% of residents under the age of 65 have no medical coverage.

Over 40% of the Dallas County population (over 1 million people) has incomes below 200% of the federal poverty limit (FPL). Of those below 200% of FPL, an estimated 50% (500,000 people) are uninsured. Note: 200% of FPL for a family of four in Dallas County is $ 44,100 in 2010.

According to the California health benefits review program [Ref 6], 5% of the population will use DME each year. Applying this standard to our population means that 25,000 to 50,000 uninsured or low‐income people in Dallas County will need DME each year.

Some insurance programs have limited coverage for DME. Medicare and Medicaid also have limited coverage.