Medicaid Drug Plan Decried -- Health Advocates Call for Governor to Raise Limits on Prescriptions
Posted on: Thursday, 1 December 2005, 12:00 CST
By Emily Wagster Pettus Associated Press
JACKSON - K.C. Williams of Jackson says Medicaid drug limits that took effect five months ago are hurting her 29-year-old brother, who needs eight prescriptions a month after suffering a serious brain injury.
Because of a budget crunch, Mississippi lawmakers decided earlier this year to limit Medicaid patients to five prescriptions a month - down from a previous limit of seven.
"I know the governor is a Christian man, and I would ask that he emulate Christ and take care of the poor," Williams said as she joined a group of health advocates for a news conference Tuesday outside the Governor's Mansion.
In a separate interview later, Barbour said disabled people such as Williams' brother should be covered by Medicare prescription benefits that start Jan. 1.
Medicare is funded entirely by the federal government, while Medicaid is paid by a combination of state and federal money.
Mississippi's program had become significantly more expensive because of growing enrollment and increased drug costs.
State lawmakers decide what kind of benefits Medicaid will offer. Shortly after Barbour took office in early 2004, he proposed cutting expenses by eliminating coverage for the optional category of Poverty Level Aged or Disabled (PLAD) people - a move that would have taken about 50,880 people off the program and saved millions of dollars.
Barbour said Medicare would have covered expenses for most of the PLAD patients, and the state could get federal permission to keep covering roughly 17,000 who wouldn't immediately move to Medicare.
But some PLAD patients sued the state, and in October 2004, a federal judge blocked the cuts.
Earlier this year, legislators again grappled with ways to reduce Medicaid expenses. After extensive arguments, they decided to make several changes, including cutting prescriptions from seven to five. Barbour signed the changes into law, and the new prescription limits took effect July 1.
"This has been in effect for five months, and I don't think anybody sees any material change in the quality of health care because of it," Barbour said Tuesday.
Several people at the news conference outside the Governor's Mansion disagreed.
Claudell Weaver of Louisville said she has heard poor people talking about the choices they have to make - sometimes deciding between food or prescription drugs.
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"I know the governor is a Christian man, and I would ask that he emulate Christ and take care of the poor."
K. C. Williams
whose brother needs eight presriptions a month
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Source: Commercial Appeal, The
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