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tazzygirl -> RE: Arizona GOP law makers end Medicaid funding for Medicaid Aproved Organ Transplants. (11/20/2010 8:18:06 AM)
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There are a few things according to ABC that is extremely worrying...
The reductions made by the Arizona state government were approved by the federal government, according to an Aug. 11 letter from Gloria Nagle, associate regional administrator for the Division of Medicaid & Children's Health Operations. In addition to limiting organ transplants, Arizona also restricted coverage of prosthetics and zeroed out podiatrists' services, preventive dental services, and wellness and physical exams for adult Medicaid enrollees.
So much for preventative care. And the Federal Government is backing this up.
"This may be a harbinger of what will evolve in this Obama national healthcare system where the expense of the health system will only be able to be contained by limitation of access," said Dr. David C. Cronin, director of liver transplantation at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "So everybody may be covered, but all services may not be available."
Of Arizona's decision to pull the plug on an insured patient's transplant, he said, "I don't see how that's fair on any level. It's indefensible to renege if the patient did everything they were supposed to do and they don't have another option. You shouldn't try to balance your budget on the backs of the most desperate patients."
Arizona's Republican governor and legislature, who already control the state's purse strings, want even more independence when it comes to determining which health care services Arizona Medicaid patients receive. Indeed, Arizona's newly elected Senate President Russell Pearce has argued for cutting the state's Medicaid program, even if that means Arizona will lose about $7 billion worth of federal grants.
"If we're saving money, the fact we lose some federal money means nothing," Pearce recently said. "If you can't afford Dillard's, even though they're having a great sale, you can't afford Dillard's."
Dr. Michael Shapiro, chief of organ transplantation at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, balked at the way Arizona chose to reduce its record deficit: "They're cutting in the wrong place."
I dont even know what to say when they compare health care to a sale at Dillards.
The state is facing a $1 billion deficit in the program come July 2011, she said. Although Arizona's fiscal year began July 1, the state opted not to implement the cuts until Oct. 1, when it estimated they'd affect about 100 people on transplant lists. However, Carusetta said the state anticipated that only a fraction of them were likely to feel direct effects of the policy change. "We believe that only about 15 percent of those individuals would be able to get a match and secure an organ."
The REAL death panel.
Morally, what is happening to these people is an outrage. Legally, im waiting for the appeals.
The Sneeches have risen again. Im sure you all remember the Sneeches... Dr Seus... The creatures with the stars upon their bellies... and the man riding into town to put stars upon the bellies of those who dont have them. If not, look for the clip, im sure youtube will have it. The end result... the man made mega bucks and the Sneeches finally realized the stars had nothing to do with society.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Health_Care/medicaid-cuts-make-organ-transplants-unaffordable/story?id=12177059&page=1
ETA the link.
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