Budget plan could doom Calif.'s sick, critics say

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Poor people with chronic illnesses such as kidney failure, cancer and HIV face the prospect of dying due to budget cuts proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, lawmakers and health advocates said Wednesday.

... Reductions in health spending could doom some of the state's sick, advocates said. The governor has proposed limiting most people on the state Medi-Cal program to 10 doctor visits per year, which would save the state almost $200 million next year.

That limit applies to dialysis patients, many of whom need the procedure three times per week. Those people would hit their limit in a matter of weeks, health advocates said, placing their lives in danger.

"A lot of these recommendations will lead to the most dire of consequences - that people will lose their lives," said Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that is reviewing the health cuts.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/26/BAU01HEO2R.DTL&tsp=1

[xchrom]

1. Hurry up & die - we got us some 'austerity' to get on with. Nt

[Bette Noir]

2. It depends on what the definition of "doctor visit" is.

A doctor doesn't need to be present for dialysis treatments. A specialized nurse usually takes care of it.

[InkAddict]

5. Yes, the definition would be important, but I can tell you from

personal experience that such a patient could easily meet the 10 visits per year limit in a few short months with additional health concerns related to the ESRD or otherwise. They often require the services of radiological interventionist specialists, infection specialists, hematologists, nephrologists, psychiatrists, podiatrists, dermatologists, and physical therapists, etc... What with initial visits, pre-procedure visits, post-op visits, etc...MY FIL who beat sepsis twice, bless his soul,also had cancer issues and often had at least two doctor visits per week in addition to the 3 weekly dialysis sessions. My only-child spouse had one H of a time coordinating Dad's on-going care.

[InkAddict]

6. oops...Dupe...sorry

[gratuitous]

3. People can die, or the wealthy can pay more in taxes

Apparently the former is greatly preferable to the latter.

[valerief]

4. That appears to be California's preference unfortunately. nt

[gratuitous]

7. I don't think it's really California's preference

But maybe it if was put that way to them a little more consistently, they'd do something about it. As long as anything to do with taxes has to have a supermajority vote, California will continue to piss away its fabulous wealth, and serve as a milk cow for the most rapacious, insatiable bunch of thieves since Ali Baba.