The Ingham Health Plan (IHP) is a community health benefit (not insurance) using an innovative approach to providing healthcare and dental access to those in need. Ingham Health Plan provides a vehicle to access organized systems of healthcare for low income, uninsured residents. There is little cost for those who otherwise would not have basic, medically needed, health and dental services. We've helped more than 70,000 low income uninsured Ingham County residents since the plan's creation in 1998. People without insurance often go without preventive care, delay or forgo needed medical care and skip taking prescription medications. The uninsured are more likely to turn to hospital emergency rooms for care, and without a consistent source of care, the uninsured have less control of their chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma.People without health insurance may pay more for medical care because they are unable to obtain the same discounts that insurance companies receive. That can be disastrous, because a high proportion of the uninsured are in the low-income, younger adult or minority populations. Living without health insurance creates a fear of being denied healthcare or being bankrupted by illness. It forces individuals to choose which medical services to utilize or choose between healthcare and other costs of living.The nonprofit Ingham Health Plan is a cost effective solution that helps ensure medical care is available.