Sen. Grassley Considers Scaling Back Bill Providing Medicaid Coverage to Hurricane Katrina Survivors
Grassley said he has met with Republicans who have blocked a vote on the measure three times because of concerns about the bill's cost. During a Wednesday meeting with Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.), Grassley said that some provisions in the bill go beyond the Medicaid expansion that was approved for New York following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Grassley is considering changes that would lower the bill's cost, such as moving funds already approved for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's health care spending to go toward Medicaid. Grassley said he is meeting with Bush Administration officials, who have said they oppose the bill because the state-by-state waivers CMS has been approving make the legislation unnecessary (CongressDaily, 9/29). Arkansas Waiver Approved
In related news, HHS has approved a special waiver for Arkansas that will allow the state to provide Medicaid coverage to Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. Under the plan, low-income evacuees will receive Medicaid coverage for up to five months. Evacuees will be asked to declare their income and assets in a simplified application but will not be required to provide all of the standard documentation. A spokesperson for Arkansas Medicaid said the state to date has been billed about $8,000 for services to evacuees. Beneficiaries will receive standard benefits packages, and they will be subject to out-of-pocket charges that other beneficiaries pay. The federal government has approved similar coverage for other states (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 9/30). Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "Morning Edition" on Friday reported on the debate over the legislation. The segment includes comments from Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.); Mark McClellan; White House spokesperson Scott McClellan; and Sara Rosenbaum, chair of the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 9/30).
The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer. Editorial, Opinion Pieces
The following summarizes recent editorials and opinion pieces related to Medicaid and Medicare in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Baltimore Sun: The Grassley-Baucus bill "has to be more efficient and certainly more humane" than the waiver process favored by the Bush administration and some senators, a Sun editorial states. The editorial adds, "Disaster spending should be smart, but its primary goal is to relieve human suffering" (Baltimore Sun, 9/30).
Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor: President Bush has vowed to cut the budget in order to pay for Katrina-related costs, but "longtime budget hawks aren't optimistic," Grier writes in a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece. Although the 2003 Medicare law is "Item one on the 'to cut' lists of fiscal conservatives," the "White House and GOP congressional leadership have ruled it off-limits" because it "remains one of ... Bush's foremost domestic policy achievements," Grier writes (Grier, Christian Science Monitor, 9/30).
Las Vegas Sun: The cost of the Grassley-Baucus bill "is nothing in comparison to the trillions of dollars in federal revenue lost through tax cuts," a Sun editorial states. The editorial asks, "Why the recalcitrance when it comes to doing something for the poor, especially poor people traumatized by the hurricanes?" (Las Vegas Sun, 9/29).
David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle: The "squabbling" over how to provide health care to hurricane evacuees "could be avoided -- and people in need would already be receiving hassle-free treatment -- if the United States had ... universal health coverage for all," Lazarus writes in his "Lazarus at Large" column in the Chronicle. The Katrina disaster "painfully illustrates the dilemma all Americans face when they're unable to gain equitable access to the country's medical system," Lazarus writes (Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/30).
"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Sen. Grassley considerã Scaling Inapoi Bill Asigurarea Medicaid Acoperire la urma uraganului Katrina - Sen. Grassley Considers Scaling Back Bill Providing Medicaid Coverage to Hurricane Katrina Survivors - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate