Posted on 07/15/2012 10:27:14 AM PDT by robowombat
Louisiana cuts Medicaid program to the bone Written by Media Sources Saturday, 14 July 2012 00:05
Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration announced widespread cuts to the Louisiana Medicaid program Friday, with the hospitals and clinics run by Louisiana State University taking the most severe blows. The LSU cuts total $329 million for the fiscal year, about a quarter of the health system's annual budget and an eyebrow-raising sum that raises the specter of reorganization, if not virtual elimination of the safety-net model as it has existed for decades.
Gerald Herbert, The Associated Press archive Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein maintained Friday that the cuts will not affect Medicaid patients' access to or quality of care. An additional $531 million in reductions will be spread over other Medicaid vendors, including virtually every other Louisiana hospital, public and private, along with a range of other health care providers.
The total $860 million reduction comes out of an approximately $7 billion insurance program that provides health care access to 1.2
Read more http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/07/louisiana_cuts_medicaid_progra.html
I thought a lot of this was due to the recent repeal of the “Louisiana Purchase” funding that Obama used to buy Mary Landrieu’s vote for Obamacare.
Great step for Louisiana, now they need to slash Medicare.
Medicare is a federal program only unlike Medicaid which is a joint state and federal program.
Louisiania can’t do anything about Medicare.
Continuing moonshot925’s thought in #5, recipients of Medicaid pay little, if anything, for the care they receive. Medicare recipients, on the other hand, paid all their working life for their benefits.
True, Medicare is supplemented by the government. But Medicaid is a straight handout. Medicare is a hand up. BIG difference IMHO.
While people do pay into Medicare, it is obviously not enough to sustain Medicare or otherwise the Medicare system would not be on the verge on bankruptcy.
Medicare is nothing more than a form of Socialized Medicine where people are forced to pay into they system for to receive medical services. Medicare is not unlike the NHS in the UK or Socialized Medicine in Canada or Cuba.
Medicare and all forms of Socialized Medicine should be abolished.
“True, Medicare is supplemented by the government. But Medicaid is a straight handout. Medicare is a hand up. BIG difference IMHO.”
There is no fundamental difference between medicaid and medicare when you look at the fact that neither recipient pays the cost of their care. Medicare recipients paid a tax their working lives - but it was a tax. They will collect far more in “benefits” than they ever will have paid in - and in doing so cause cost-shifting onto folks who actually pay for their care or private insurance.
The question of healthcare for old folks and folks with chronic conditions and poor folks will only be answered by the private sector, private charities, and doctors and hospitals willing to participate in charitable activities. It will not be answered by government - government has already failed.
I suppose the money deducted from my Social Security check each month to help pay my Medicare expenses doesn't count? You can call my payroll deduction a tax if you want but the fact remains that, with Medicare, you pay for it in advance during your working life and receive the "payoff" later.
Medicaid, funded 100% by you and me, gives its recipients a payoff now.
I'm done discussing this.
Good!
Maine should do the same. 1 out of 4 Mainers are on MediCaid...
Pathetic.
“you pay for it in advance during your working life and receive the “payoff” later.”
You pay a tax, then you hope the government and workers in the future will be able to pay for your care in the future.
We don’t have the money, and government is not the solution.
Everyone must realize this and come up with a solution for older folks presently on benefits, and future needs. The solutions will be local, regional, but not federal. Federal solutions fail.
A very good first step. Now he needs to get rid of single payer socialized schooling.
“A nationwide study of 900,000 surgical procedures from 2003 to 2007 by the University of Virginia found Medicaid patients were 13 percent more likely to die than those without any insurance normalizing for the procedure performed, age, gender and other factors.”
So maybe Medicaid is not only expensive to states, but’s dangerous for patients because it encourages shoddy care.
“...the fact remains that, with Medicare, you pay for it in advance during your working life and receive the “payoff” later.”
Actually, the fact remains that pay into an unsustainable system during their working life and then receive much greater returns upon latching on to Medicare.
Some generation down the road will get screwed as Medicare will go bankrupt all because the current recipients of Medicare love Socialized Medicine and long as it is them who is receiving Socialized Medicine!
Let’s call George Will a willful idiot.
I agree with your sentiments to an extent. Medicare, a federal program, is not simply reserved for those who have paid into the program (whether one calls it a benefit or a tax).
It becomes a handout when those who have never paid into the Medicare system receive the same benefits as those who have paid into the program their entire working lives.
For those who may not know, there are two parts to the Medicare, well actually 3 if one includes Durable Medical Equipment as a separate entity...part A (inpatient care by the hospital...physician billing is a whole other nightmare)is supposed to be covered 100% for a qualifying
admission. Technically, Mcare recipients do not pay for
this portion of their premiums.
Part B of mcare is outpatient which only 80% is covered
by medicare and this is where the premium payments billed.
CMS which is the government agency that controls care and caid, runs these programs as a socialized medicine.
I agree with your sentiments to an extent. Medicare, a federal program, is not simply reserved for those who have paid into the program (whether one calls it a benefit or a tax).
It becomes a handout when those who have never paid into the Medicare system receive the same benefits as those who have paid into the program their entire working lives.
For those who may not know, there are two parts to the Medicare, well actually 3 if one includes Durable Medical Equipment as a separate entity...part A (inpatient care by the hospital...physician billing is a whole other nightmare)is supposed to be covered 100% for a qualifying
admission. Technically, Mcare recipients do not pay for
this portion of their premiums.
Part B of mcare is outpatient which only 80% is covered
by medicare and this is where the premium payments are billed.
CMS which is the government agency that controls care and caid, runs these programs as socialized medicine.
Great..they will move to NY where even braces and viagra are covered
Would love for something to happen to the costs related to Medicare. My 85 yo dad was put on a nebulizer. Since he had had one a few years ago for a few months, Medicare denied it, so the local drug store made us a “deal” We paid $15/mo about half what they were going to charge Medicare. After three payments, I just happened to be looking for am inverter for traveling for it. Saw on three separate sites the exact same nebulizer for between $30 and $50. This is a NEW nebulizer too. We paid $50 and Medicare pays about $300 (not counting the meds of course) BUT we all know there is nothing to be done about it. No one cares up there because it’s not their money.
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