I so want to tell you that something good is happening in Arizona, but alas, tis not to be.
Today a young man was all prepped at the hospital, about to receive a life saving liver transplant. T'was not to be, his insurance (medicaid)
would not cover it so the liver was given to someone else.
The 32 year old man could not come up with the $200,000 necessary to cover the transplant. Banner Hospital spokesman said they have 23 others in the same situation.
http://www.kpho.com/...
PHOENIX -- A Valley man was in the surgery room, prepped and ready for his life-saving liver transplant when doctors told him the state's Medicaid plan wouldn't cover the procedure.
Arizona's medicaid agency, AHCCCS, which has recently cut funding for some services, refused to pay for Felix's surgery.
AHCCCS does cover liver transplants but not for patients with Hepatitis C, according to Jennifer Carusett, a spokeswoman for AHCCCS.
Felix has Hepatitis C.
"For federal funding, AHCCCS has to provide certain services," said Carusett. "With the budget crisis, they examined what services could be cut because they're optional."
Beginning October 1, these changes have been enacted:
As of October 1, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System will no longer pay for liver transplants for patients with Hepatitis C; certain heart and bone marrow transplants; or lung and pancreas transplants.
The new transplant exclusions took effect Friday as part of broader Medicaid coverage changes mandated by the State of Arizona in response to budgetary pressures. (Arizona's Fiscal Year 2010 enacted budget directs AHCCCS to eliminate various medical and health services for adults. See page 20 of the bill).
In addition to eliminating most organ-transplant coverage, Arizona's Medicaid agency also is eliminating most dental care for adults as well as coverage of podiatrist services; insulin pumps; percussive vests; bone-anchored hearing aids; cochlear implants; orthotics; gastric bypass surgery; certain durable medical equipment; "well" medical checkups; some non-emergency medical transportation; microprocessor-controlled lower limbs and joints; and it is limiting outpatient physical therapy to 15 visits per contract year.
Governor Brewer was asked about this unfortunate situation.
Her response came from one of her death panel people spokespersons:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/...
A spokesperson for Governor Brewer is blaming "Obamacare" for forcing Arizona to cover more people under AHCCCS and leaving less money for cases such as this.
Democrats say Arizona voters approved the state to cover more people and the health care rules have nothing to do with it.
To paraphrase a television commentator regarding this story:
The legislature was warned that this day was coming. Now it's here.
That was the good news. The bad news is...it's going to get worse.
http://www.azcentral.com/...
The new Legislature - jammed with Republicans, Republicans and, yes, more Republicans - will return to the Capitol in January, faced with cutting more than $800 million in state spending this year and another $1.4 billion next year.
They won't be talking about a trim here and a tuck there. They'll be talking about the wholesale, full-scale elimination of core programs. They'll be talking about tossing hundreds of thousands of people, if not more, off the state's health-care rolls and never mind if it means Arizona loses $7 billion in federal Medicaid funding.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Joe has conducted another of his infamous raids and seventeen illegals who worked in landscaping have been arrested. Notice, not the employer? Nope, just the illegals. Sheriff Joe has said he's quite proud of dropping the unemployment rate, now seventeen people (rest assured he means white people) can fill those jobs and get off unemployment.
Sigh. My heart hurts.