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Health Care for Katrina Victims
Editorial, New York Times
October 4, 2005
The White House has now spent nearly three weeks blocking a bipartisan effort to pay for medical care for the impoverished victims of Hurricane Katrina.
On Sept. 16, Senators Charles Grassley and Max Baucus, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced a bill that would extend Medicaid health coverage for five months to low-income childless adults from Katrina-struck areas.
In addition, the bill would expand the pool of traditional Medicaid recipients to include pregnant women, children and the disabled by raising the income cutoff to about twice the federal poverty line, or $25,660 for a two-person family.
The bill would also commit the federal government to paying 100 percent of victims' Medicaid bills rather than requiring the states to pay a share. Full federal payment is vital. Medical aid is integral to disaster relief and recovery and reflects a national interest in public health. Equally important, without assurance of 100 percent coverage by the federal government, states that treat evacuees could be penalized by getting stuck with all or part of the bill.
The Grassley-Baucus bill has the support of the National Governors Association; many relief agencies and charities, including the American Red Cross and Catholic Charities; and numerous health care providers, including groups that represent doctors, nurses, hospitals and nursing homes. But not the administration.
The White House has said it will reimburse health care providers who treat victims who are not covered by Medicaid. But it has not said how much the payments would be or how providers could access the so-called uncompensated care fund.
The administration also does not want the federal government to pick up the states' share for Medicaid costs incurred in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama in the post-Katrina period. Those three states would also have to pick up other states' costs to treat evacuees, unless the law is changed.
The Grassley-Baucus bill set the stage for efficiently providing much-needed medical care to Katrina's victims. But a few senators, widely seen to be carrying the administration's water, have thus far blocked a vote. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, could clear the way for a vote by the full Senate this week. What is he waiting for?
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