GOP Plan Would OK Medicaid Price Hike

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans are taking a cue from the nation's governors when it comes to reducing Medicaid. Like the governors, they're proposing that states be allowed to charge people more when they receive care.

"Commonsense reform will ensure that Medicaid can save and prolong millions more American lives for years to come," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "If we succeed, we will make Medicaid better and poor people healthier. If not, the safety net will rot away."

Barton's committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, is looking to reduce government spending by up to $14.7 billion over the next five years. Most of the savings are expected to come from Medicaid, which provides health care for about 53 million poor and disabled people.
.....
Barton has said people will make wiser health care decisions if more money is coming out of their own pockets. But some advocacy groups said that higher fees will prevent some poor people from getting health care altogether, or at least until an illness reaches the critical stage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/24/AR2005102401404.html

[Deja Q]

1. One day GOP will have to snip the problem and stop circumcizing symptoms

[sarcasmo]

2. Charge the poor more and take away less from the rich.

The Reich wing way.

[ShockediSay]

7. This is a tax increase n/t

[ThingsGottaChange]

3. What an absurd statement!

"If we succeed, we will make Medicaid better and poor people healthier."

So, cutting benefits and raising co-pays will help the poor even MORE?!?!?!?!? Guess we have to pay for the war somehow....

[w8liftinglady]

4. I see the by-products of higher health care costs

My patients can't afford their medicines,which leads to exacerbation of their disease.A universal,government -funded pharmaceutical program would prevent so many expensive complications(strokes,CHF,COPD exacerbations,diabetic complications,etc).This is a classic example of Orwelian thinking....keep repeating-"charge the poor more,their health will improve"

[w8liftinglady]

5. By the Way,Barton is my congressman

...which is why I am so wholeheartedly supporting David Harris in the upcoming election
http://followmetodc.com/

[pinto]

6. Joe Barton doesn't know Medicaid from his rear end.

Barton has said people will make wiser health care decisions if more money is coming out of their own pockets.

There is little or no patient decision making under Medicaid...there simply aren't many options from which to make any decision, let alone a "wiser" decision.

Providers are few (reimbursement rates are pathetic and slow in getting processed), access is severely limited, preventative health care is virtually non existent, dental care - when available - consists of pull 'em.

The main decision many Medicaid beneficiaries make is when to go to the ER. That isn't appropriate or efficient primary care.

There's a DU Activist HQ thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x24626