{"id":59520,"date":"2025-12-01T01:22:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=59520"},"modified":"2025-12-01T01:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:23:03","slug":"providing-low-income-uninsured-residents-of-polk-county-with-access-to-free-specialty-healthcare-diagnostics-and-labs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/12\/01\/providing-low-income-uninsured-residents-of-polk-county-with-access-to-free-specialty-healthcare-diagnostics-and-labs\/","title":{"rendered":"Providing Low-Income, Uninsured Residents of Polk County with Access to\u00a0FREE\u00a0Specialty Healthcare, Diagnostics, and Labs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Providing Low-Income, Uninsured Residents of Polk County with Access to\u00a0FREE<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Specialty Healthcare, Diagnostics, and Labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our patients are people you see every day in our community \u2013 like the young cashier handing you your order at a busy ice cream shop, and the older gentleman counting your shirts at your neighborhood dry cleaner. Others work behind the scenes \u2013 like the dishwasher in a popular restaurant and the evening security guard at a local office building. Still, others have faithfully served their customers for years, working as a caregiver and cleaning homes. They work hard and are focused on doing a good job so they can provide for their own families. Most never thought they would ever need free health care.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All live within Polk County and have incomes at, or below, 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (for a family of 4, this is up to $4,417 per month). Most are parents with children who live at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although most of our patients work, their jobs do not include access to affordable health insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, an increasing number of new patients came to We Care of Central Florida after losing their job and their health insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be eligible for free health care services or other resource assistance, the gross household income (per household size) must be between 0% and 200% of the Federal Poverty (2024 Income Guidelines). The chart below outlines the annual Federal Poverty Level for each family size represents income levels that are commonly used as guidelines for health programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Household Size<\/td>200% FPL (Monthly)<\/td><\/tr>
1 person<\/td>income up to $2,430 per month<\/td><\/tr>
2 people<\/td>income up to $3,286 per month<\/td><\/tr>
3 people<\/td>income up to $4,143 per month<\/td><\/tr>
4 people<\/td>income up to $5,000 per month<\/td><\/tr>
5 people<\/td>income up to $5,856 per month<\/td><\/tr>
6 people<\/td>income up to $6,713 per month<\/td><\/tr>
7 people<\/td>income up to $7,570 per month<\/td><\/tr>
8 people<\/td>income up to $8,426 per month<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*For households with more than 8, add $5,140 for each additional person<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English Forms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications are eligible for one (1) year from the date of approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is our application for program enrollment. Clicking on these links will open a secure site in a new window, allowing you to complete the forms online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You DO NOT have to download an app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The patient application form will auto-fill your information as you enter it, so you will not have to keep re-entering the same information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last four (4) pages are forms that may not pertain to your case and do not need to be filled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Care Intake Application<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formularios en Espa\u00f1ol<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

INSTRUCCIONES DE APLICACI\u00d3N:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Las solicitudes son elegibles por un (1) a\u00f1o a partir de la fecha de aprobaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A continuaci\u00f3n se muestra nuestra solicitud de inscripci\u00f3n en el programa. Al hacer clic en estos enlaces, se abrir\u00e1 un sitio seguro en una nueva ventana, lo que le permitir\u00e1 completar los formularios en l\u00ednea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO tienes que descargar una aplicaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El formulario de solicitud del paciente completar\u00e1 autom\u00e1ticamente su informaci\u00f3n a medida que lo ingrese, por lo que no tendr\u00e1 que volver a ingresar la misma informaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Las \u00faltimas cuatro (4) p\u00e1ginas son formularios que pueden no pertenecer a su caso y no es necesario completarlos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solicitud de Admisi\u00f3n de We Care<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Care of Central Florida (We Care) was initiated in 1998 by the Polk County Medical Association for the purpose of increasing access to specialty medical care for low-income, uninsured residents of Polk County. Today, We Care is a well-established referral program, with a 120-member strong, and growing, network of volunteer physicians, allied healthcare professionals, diagnostic and surgical facilities, and administrative support staff dedicated and passionate to bringing change to our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients are referred to We Care from a variety of free or low-cost primary care programs, including the Polk Health Care Plan, free primary care clinics, federally qualified health centers, hospital emergency, and financial aid departments, and Polk County health departments. All rely upon We Care\u2019s resources, to provide the specialty care needed for effectively managing their Primary Care patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to providing access to specialty care services and diagnostics, We Care operates four additional Projects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Location:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

205 Farnol Street SW, Winter Haven, FL 33880<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phone: (863) 662-4227 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Providing Low-Income, Uninsured Residents of Polk County with Access to\u00a0FREE\u00a0Specialty Healthcare, Diagnostics, and Labs. Our patients are people you see every day in our community \u2013 like the young cashier… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"6481","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMTJcL3dlY2FyZS1sb2dvLTIwMjQtMy53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDAwJTJDNDAwJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUHJvdmlkaW5nIExvdy1JbmNvbWUsIFVuaW5zdXJlZCBSZXNpZGVudHMgb2YgUG9sayBDb3VudHkgd2l0aCBBY2Nlc3MgdG9cdTAwYTBGUkVFXHUwMGEwU3BlY2lhbHR5IEhlYWx0aGNhcmUsIERpYWdub3N0aWNzLCBhbmQgTGFicyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.N92w59GXXeRNDFRRII9WEDPwl6Cwwhbg37aO5ZAbE7MMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":59521,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/wecare-logo-2024-3.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6481],"tags":[12730,12731],"class_list":["post-59520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-providing-low-income","tag-uninsured-residents-of-polk-county-with-access-to-free-specialty-healthcare"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59522,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59520\/revisions\/59522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}