Government supports rotten teeth for patients in poverty

The New York Times
January 27, 2015
Indiana Will Allow Entry to Medicaid for a Price
By Abby Goodnough

After a lengthy back-and-forth, the Obama administration has agreed to
let Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, a Republican, expand Medicaid on his own
terms, including some that have not been allowed before under federal rules.

The plan will extend coverage to an additional 350,000 Indiana residents
with incomes of up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about
$16,100 for a single person and $27,310 for a family of three — starting
next month.

Mr. Pence, like several Republican governors before him, insisted on
adding a conservative twist to the expansion, mostly by requiring
beneficiaries to pay something toward their coverage. Under his plan,
most people will have to pay monthly premiums equaling 2 percent of
their household income — between about $3 and $25 a month for a single
childless adult — for coverage that includes dental and vision benefits.

At the Obama administration's insistence, people who earn less than the
poverty level will not have to pay premiums. But if they do not, their
coverage will be downgraded to exclude dental and vision benefits. And
they will owe co-payments for medical care, including $4 for a doctor's
visit and $75 for a hospitalization.

In another unusual concession, the Obama administration will let Indiana
lock some people out of coverage for six months if they stop paying
monthly premiums.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for
Children and Families, called the Indiana plan "enormously complicated"
and questioned the fairness of withholding dental and vision coverage
from those who cannot come up with premium payments.

"It's just common sense that when people take greater ownership of their
health care," Mr. Pence said, "they make better choices."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/politics/indiana-will-allow-entry-to-medicaid-for-a-price.html

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Indystar
January 27, 2015
Gov. Pence gets federal OK for Medicaid alternative
By Shari Rudavsky and Maureen Groppe

Those who are eligible for the plan already live at the poverty level,
said Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University and
a healthcare reform expert. People who by definition are already having
trouble covering basic costs such as food and rent will struggle to make
an addition payment. Instead, they may opt not to participate in the
program or avoid getting care.

"The question is how far is CMS willing to go in accommodating governors
or states that want to work their own policy agenda into the Medicaid
program," Jost said. "This is pretty much pushing the limits of how far
they should go if it's not beyond it."

Throughout the months of back and forth with federal health officials,
Pence had said he was not willing to compromise on the personal
responsibility piece.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/27/gov-pence-gets-federal-ok-medicaid-alternative/22396503/

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Comment by Don McCanne

This is insane! In an age when we are supposed to be a society that
cares enough to see that all of us receive the health care that we need,
we still have amongst us those who insist that people with no assets,
often homeless, frequently missing meals, are supposed to exercise
"personal responsibility" by paying funds that they don't have as a
condition for receiving much needed medical care.

And, oh, if they don't come up with those funds, let their teeth rot
out. That will show them! And sentence some of them to six months
without any medical care at all.

We have covered extensively the irrationality and inhumanity of the
consumer-directed, moral hazard-based policies that erect financial
barriers to care for the four-fifths of us with minimal or modest
resources. But this exposes the colors of these "skin in the game "
advocates. What kind go people are we that we elect individuals like
this to take charge of our federal and state governments. What is
government all about? This!? It can't be. Tell me it isn't.