Panel Honors Subsidized Health Plan for Business.The success of a local subsidized health plan for small businesses has gained national recognition. Focus, a program that provides local businesses and indigent indigent 1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a lawyer for defense in a criminal case. uninsured workers subsidized health care through Sharp HealthCare Sharp HealthCare is a not-for-profit integrated regional health care delivery system located in San Diego. Sharp includes four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical groups and a health plan. , has received top honors by the Healthcare Leadership Council. The council, a coalition of chief executives from the country's leading health care companies and institutions, presented the Focus program with the "Honor Roll honor roll n. A list of names of people worthy of honor, especially: a. A list of students who have earned high grades during a specified period. b. A list of people who have served in the armed forces. for Coverage" award July 6 at NLP (Natural Language Processing) The capability of understanding human language. If the language is spoken, voice recognition plays an important role in converting the sounds to individual words. Then, natural language processing figures out what the words mean. Furniture Industries in Chula Vista Chula Vista (ch  `lə), city (1990 pop. 135,163), San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1911. .
According to Joseph Cabrera, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. at NLP Furniture, the award is well deserved. The furniture maker is one of 161 businesses participating in Focus. "I am praying that Focus will continue," Cabrera said. "If it doesn't, I'll bite the bullet and offer health insurance -- but it would be extremely hard." Cabrera, who was Focus' first participant, said the subsidized program was a godsend god·send n. Something wanted or needed that comes or happens unexpectedly. [Alteration of Middle English goddes sand, God's message : goddes, genitive of God, God for the small firm. Cabrera said he couldn't afford to buy health insurance and watched helplessly as workers fled to rival firms that offered health benefits. Since Focus was implemented, turnover at NLP has been virtually zero. This has given NLP a competitive edge in the industry, he said. Cabrera said his employees pay half of the health care bill -- between $27 and $36 each a month. Focus was conceived in April 1999 when the San Diego Alliance Healthcare Foundation injected $1.2 million to get the program running. The California Endowment in Los Angeles contributed $400,000 and the California Healthcare Foundation gave $250,000 toward the endeavor. The pilot program will be evaluated in April 2001. A spokeswoman from the Alliance Healthcare Foundation said the foundation and Sharp hope to continue the program beyond 2001 through a public and private partnership. "The Board of Supervisors, especially Dianne Jacob, has expressed interest in this approach to health care coverage for small business," said Stephanie Casenza, a spokeswoman for Alliance Healthcare Foundation. |
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