This bill will cut Medicaid for 65,000 people in our state, many of whom are disabled and/or elderly, by July 1.
I only found out about it last Friday evening. It affects several people I know and will be devastating to them financially and medically.
Here's the breakdown:
If you have Medicare and Medicaid and are in either the Social Security or Social Security Disability programs, you will lose your Medicaid coverage.
For those who aren't familiar with how this system works, this means that a person making under $776 per month will now be responsible for his own drug coverage, eye-care, dental care, and, in some cases, Medicare premiums, Co-Payments, and Deductibles. Medicaid has always covered these benefits, but this will cease on July 1.
Medicaid typically covers the cost of 5 prescriptions per month, with an additional 2 prescriptions allowable if deemed absolutely medically necessary by the primary physician. The Medicaid recipient pays a $1-3 co-pay per prescription. That will no longer be available. This is what will hurt many of these people who simply cannot afford to pay for their medicines.
A person on Social Security Disability, which is Social Security for those who are physically unable to work now though they have in the past, will qualify for a program called QMB (Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries) if they bring in less than $776 per month. This program will cover the cost of the almost $70 Premium for Medicare Part B and the Co-Payments and Deductibles. Still no drug, eye-care, or dental coverage, however. The gist of this is that these people will still have adequate medical coverage, but will not be able to afford the medicines which are prescribed for them.
A person on Social Security, which is the program that retirees are under (in other words, the elderly) will also qualify for this program if they bring in under $776 per month. However, there is a scale-back of coverage for them--QMB will
not pay their Medicare Co-Payments and/or Deductibles, but it will pay the almost $70 Medicare Part B Premium fee. Again, no drug coverage, etc. The gist of this is that these people will not be able to afford their medical bills or their medicines.
If one doesn't have both Medicare and Medicaid, and one is already at or under poverty level in income, then adequate medical care is virtually impossible.
As I understand it, nursing home patients already situated in facilities will not be affected, thank goodness. Also, recipients of SSI (commonly called "Disability") who only have Medicaid and no Medicare will not be affected.
I honestly don't know how kids will be affected. I'm afraid I simply forgot to ask the poor man at the Medicaid office who is just as outraged and shocked over this as am I.
I only found out about this from a very small blurb of an article from the Friday edition of The Meridian Star. I haven't been able to find much about it on the internet, though maybe I'm not using the correct searchwords.
Haley Barbour, newly elected Republican governor and Bush friend, is behind this. He's going after DHS next (food stamp program) and then he's on to the State workers' benefits.
Meanwhile, I hear he gave himself a payraise and bought himself a new gubenatorial airplane--although the airplane is only hearsay on my part--a friend told me about it.
Please help me to generate ideas as to what can be done to fight this, if anything.
Go here for more information:
http://www.mhap.org/Also, if you have any additional info about this or find any out, please post it.
Thanks.
FC
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