S.C. Proposing to Redefine Medicaid

[Judi Lynn]

S.C. Proposing to Redefine Medicaid
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer

Monday, August 15, 2005
(08-15) 23:07 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

On the left, they're calling it radical. On the right, the buzzword is bold. Either way, South Carolina is proposing major changes in Medicaid, the giant federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

The state says its proposal to establish personal health accounts for most of the state's 850,000 Medicaid recipients will "redefine health care in the United States." The account would be used to purchase private health insurance, or pay for care directly. And the amount of money allocated to each account would depend on the person's age, sex and physical condition.

That's much different from the way Medicaid operates. Now, those whose incomes are low enough and who meet other eligibility requirements are entitled to receive certain approved health care services regardless of costs.

South Carolina would cap how much it will spend on a recipient, and if health care costs more than the account will pay for, then the low-income people would have to make up the difference themselves or go without.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/15/national/w230712D08.DTL

[saigon68]

1. Rationing health care.

[wli]

2. today 5 people told me India's healthcare is better than the US' n/t

[Spinzonner]

3. OK, all you poor people down there in South Carolina

make sure you make economical choices about your diseases and injuries.

Society is not going to accept responsibility for your poor planning and genetic deficiencies.

[hadrons]

4. and the Bush-bots still won't get it; even as they get it in the rear ...

[TaleWgnDg]

5. nope, they don't . . . because

.


.

[anotherdrew]

6. quotas basicly,

This is outragous and would be a direct death sentence for many. What? no 'culture of life' if it costs something?

[roguevalley]

7. sex? That would make it constitutional. Ageism, sexism and

the rest. it won't fly if its challenged. Fuckers.

Old and infirm: 50 cents
Black/White, poor: 25 cents
Saving a few bucks for the Man: priceless

[Starfury]

8. Compassionate conservatism in action:

"...and if health care costs more than the account will pay for, then the low-income people would have to make up the difference themselves or go without."

[booksenkatz]

9. This is the Republican version of abortion.

Save them when they're in utero, then kill them off after they're born.

edited to add: I don't want to live in a country that says "tough luck" to someone in need.

[area51]

10. "This is the Republican version of abortion."

Exactly. The nazi party is showing again their disdain for human life, & how they're not the Christian party.

[SoCalDem]

11. Here in CA, the real problem is that so many DOCTORS

will not even accept medicaid patients..and more are even turning away medicare patients...SO

these people often do not have ready access to a regular doctor who could spot a potential problem or see a sick child on day ONE of the illness..

Because it's next to impossible to get an office appointment, these people are the ones who haunt the ER's. They arrive for illnesses that could be/should be routine office visit stuff, but by the time that ear infection has raged for a week, it IS an emergency vist by the time they seek care.

This also leads to horrific overcrowding at the ERs.. Once had to wait almost 5 hours for my son to be seen (and we had union health insurance) BUT it's first come first served unless it's life threatening.

During that visit I watched a boy about 10 with a nasty gash in his head, just above the ear.. His mom went through the entire roll of paper towels while we were there, and the maintenance person wet-mopped the blood off the floor by his chair, at least 3 times..

[Mend]

12. Doctors should not have to shoulder the burden of

the uninsured and the poorly insured. The government should pay doctors and hospitals fair prices for medical care, supported by taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. Medicaid doesn't pay anything much at all for medical services. If the government can spend 200 billion dollars killing innocent people, it can spend it on saving lives. Doctors shouldn't enable a bad system. We need universal health care.

[SoCalDem]

13. We do indeed need universal care, but the misconception

today is that "people on medicaid go to "the doctor's" all the time.. They usually can't even SEE a doctor unless it's in the ER..and by then the costs are EXTREME.. That's why the program is having trouble.. Better to pay doctors a fair return so they could afford to see medicaid patients..