They are so driven to make dependents of their "wards of the state" and control their lives that they have created these "dual elgibles" who are eligible for coverage of their every acute/serious medical need plus permanent, chronic illness long term nursing home/care homes and even home care/day care and then eligible for Medicare for acute care as well.
Of course this is liberal Democrat over-reach and they cannot tolerate Republicans giving any possible consideration of improvement and taking their "ownership" of this most popular program away from them. They will not share. Have you noticed how upset they were over the Republicans and Bush passing the Medicare Part D (Drugs) prescription enhancement? They were fried because it wasn't more expensive and left a gap (donut hole) in that coverage.
If Romney and Ryan can pull through on this election and implement these potentially good options without forcing anyone to leave original Medicare, It will create a fatal wound to the phony reputation Democrats unjustly enjoy of being more compassionate than Republicans. It will pave the way for far-reaching reform of entitlements far into the future and they know it and are very, very afraid!!!
No, they have not “created” these dual eligibles in order to control anything. Policy affecting duals has been around since the creation of both systems. Pilots such as this, approved under the authority of section 1115 of ssa, are common in all of the states. The state submits the proposal to CMS for approval, CMS approves with an expiration date, and if the state wants to renew it must resubmit with evidence of cost effectiveness evidence. HHS cannot and does not propose and approve anything.
This is a poorly written article showing little to no understanding of the program processes for the dual eligible system and demonstration processes used by states. With a little research the author would know that similar demonstrations are approved and running in other states, some with republican leadership.