Benefits: Some Cut, Some Saved
Two stories about benefits follow. In the first, New York
Times columnist Bob Herbert describes deep cuts taking place on the state
level in Mississippi. The Mississippi cuts are the deepest approved anywhere
in the U.S. and will result in thousands of people with disabilities losing
Medicaid coverage.
The second story, by New York Times report Robert Pear, describes the Bush
Administration's reversal of policy to preserve access to food stamps. The
Department of Agriculture had a policy that would have resulted in a decline
in food stamps benefits because of the new Medicare prescription drug discount
cards. The agriculture department is reversing the policy now that the impact
of the potential impact of the prescription drug cards has been discovered.
Jonathan Young
JFA Moderator, AAPD
==================================
June 11, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Punishing the Poor
By BOB HERBERT
The New York Times
If you want to see "compassionate" conservatism in action, take a look at
Mississippi, a state that is solidly in the red category (strong for Bush) and
committed to its long tradition of keeping the poor and the unfortunate in as
ragged and miserable a condition as possible.
How's this for compassion? Mississippi has approved the deepest cut in
Medicaid eligibility for senior citizens and the disabled that has ever been
approved anywhere in the U.S.
The new policy will end Medicaid eligibility for some 65,000 low-income senior
citizens and people with severe disabilities - people like Traci Alsup, a
36-year-old mother of three who was left a quadriplegic after a car accident.
The cut in eligibility for seniors and the disabled was the most dramatic
component of a stunning rollback of services in Mississippi's Medicaid
program. The rollback was initiated by the Republican-controlled State Senate
and Mississippi's new governor, Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the
national Republican Party. When he signed the new law on May 26, Mr. Barbour
complained about taxpayers having to "pay for free health care for people who
can work and take care of themselves and just choose not to."
The governor is free to characterize the victims of the cuts as deadbeats if
he wants to. Others have described them as patients suffering from diseases
like cerebral palsy and Alzheimer's, and people incapacitated by diabetes or
heart disease or various forms of paralysis, and individuals struggling with
the agony of schizophrenia or other forms of serious mental illness.
The 65,000 seniors and disabled individuals who will lose their Medicaid
eligibility have incomes so low they effectively have no money to pay for
their health care. The new law coldly reduces the maximum income allowed for
an individual to receive Medicaid in Mississippi from an impecunious $12,569
per year to a beggarly $6,768.
Many of the elderly recipients have Medicare coverage, but their Medicare
benefits in most cases will not come close to meeting their overall
requirements - which include huge prescription drug bills, doctor visits and
often long-term care.
According to the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, which is coordinating an
effort to somehow maintain the Medicaid coverage: "The people affected are
low-income retirees now subsisting on Social Security or other pension
benefits and people who have permanent disabilities that prevent them from
being able to work."
Jane Powell, a 75-year-old Jackson resident who fears she will be lopped off
the program, told reporters she has 10 different prescriptions for a variety
of ailments, including heart disease and osteoporosis.
She worried aloud that if the law is not changed she might someday be found
"dead in the street."
While Mr. Barbour insists he won't reconsider the matter, a backlash is
developing against the cutbacks, which are extreme even for Mississippi.
The Democratic-controlled House opposed the cuts all along but gave in at the
last minute. Democratic leaders insisted they were coerced. Technical aspects
of the state's Medicaid law have to be renewed every year by the Legislature.
If they are not, control of the entire Medicaid program can go to the
governor. The Democrats said they were afraid that under those circumstances
Mr. Barbour would have cut services even more.
At the time the bill was signed, the House speaker, Billy McCoy, called it "an
absolute sin on society."
Now, with public clamor growing, the House (including most of the Republican
members) is attempting to have the law reversed.
Representative Steve Holland, chairman of the House Public Health and Human
Services Committee, told me this week: "My heart has been broken and crushed
and stomped to pieces over this. I knew this was wrong."
He added, "This governor is my friend, but he's a Republican and his mantra is
to starve this beast of big government in Mississippi."
I asked Mr. Holland if he thought Mississippi had a big government.
"Good God, no!" he said.
In an interview for Monday's column, Senator Jack Reed inadvertently said that
he had co-sponsored an amendment to expand the size of the Army with Senator
Charles Schumer. He said he had meant to say Senator Chuck Hagel.
E-mail: bobherb@nytimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/opinion/11HERB.html?ex=1088108347&ei=1&en=e821d7b3ee23ff9c
==================================
June 13, 2004
U.S. to Drop Benefit Cuts Linked to Drug Discounts
By ROBERT PEAR
The New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 12 - The Bush administration said Saturday that it would
rescind a federal policy that threatened to cut food stamp benefits for
several million low-income elderly and disabled people who save money on their
medicines by using the new Medicare drug discount cards.
The administration's reversal came two days before President Bush was
scheduled to visit Missouri to promote use of the cards, which have received a
tepid reaction from many Medicare beneficiaries.
In interviews this week, state officials across the country said low-income
people who used the cards could find their food stamp benefits reduced as a
result. The cuts, they said, were a direct result of federal regulations and a
policy statement issued by the Agriculture Department on March 10.
The purpose of the discount cards is to reduce out-of- pocket drug costs. But
when a person's drug expenses go down, state officials said, the food stamp
program assumes that the person has more money available to spend on other
needs, including food. So the person may receive a smaller food stamp
allotment, they said.
Judy K. Toelle, the food stamp director in South Dakota, confirmed that such
cuts would occur under the federal rules. For example, she said, a woman with
monthly income of $1,060, shelter expenses of $555 and drug costs of $325 now
receives $51 a month in food stamps. But, she said, if the card reduced her
out-of-pocket drug costs by $100, the woman would get $41 less in food stamps,
so the net saving would be $59.
Food stamp officials in California, Colorado, Missouri , New Mexico and
Washington State said they were simply following federal rules in reducing
food stamp benefits to take account of the fact that people with discount
cards spent less on prescription drugs. Those regulations have not been
changed.
But after inquiries from The New York Times, Eric M. Bost, an under secretary
of agriculture, said, "We will immediately be clarifying policy guidance to
ensure that food stamp applicants or recipients who use the new Medicare
discount card will experience no impact on their eligibility or benefits."
The abrupt shift highlights the confusion between federal and state officials,
and between the two federal agencies that administer Medicare and food stamps.
Medicare officials said on Tuesday that they were unaware of the Agriculture
Department policy.
Dr. Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services, said the drug card, which carries a $600 subsidy for
low-income people, was not supposed to "take away any existing federal
benefits."
The Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, welcomed the
promise to avoid any cuts in benefits. "This reversal in policy by the
administration means that seniors will no longer have to worry about making a
painful decision between their food stamp assistance and getting this help
with their prescriptions," he said. Still, Mr. Daschle said, the discount card
"is hopelessly confusing and does not meaningfully lower drug costs," a view
expressed by substantial numbers of the elderly.
Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said, "The drug discount card
program has been the target of a deliberate campaign to discredit it and
confuse seniors."
Medicare beneficiaries began signing up for the cards on May 3 and have used
them since June 1. Dr. McClellan said 3 million of the 41 million Medicare
beneficiaries had cards.
Federal officials said the cards would reduce retail drug prices by 10 percent
to 25 percent, with savings as high as 65 percent on some generic drugs. In
addition, individuals with annual incomes of $12,569 or less and couples with
incomes of $16,862 or less are eligible for the credit of $600 a year in 2004
and 2005.
Sharon Regensberg, the food stamp policy chief at the New Mexico Department of
Human Services, said it was clear that the $600 subsidy should not be counted
as income in determining eligibility for food stamps. But she added: "Will the
discount card affect food stamp benefits? Yes, it could. It could reduce the
client's out-of-pocket medical expenses, the medical deduction and the amount
of benefits."
Bush administration officials said they had not decided how to avert such
cuts. The government may have to allow Medicare beneficiaries to take a
deduction for medical expenses they do not actually incur.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/national/13drug.html
# # #
=====================
JOIN AAPD! There's strength in numbers! Be a part of a national coalition of
people with disabilities and join AAPD today.
http://www.aapd-dc.org
JFA ARCHIVES. All JFA postings from 1995 to present are available at:
http://www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAabout.html
JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of the American Association of People with
Disabilities
http://www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAabout.html
Last Updated on
06/14/04
webmaster@namiscc.org
