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State
is less generous with health care for childless adults Associated
Press via brainerddispatch.com The
state of According
to the state's projections, changes that take effect Wednesday will mean
5,585 people will lose coverage in this fiscal year and nearly as many
will lose coverage in the next. They count among some 38,000 people
expected to go without state-sponsored health insurance by 2007 as a
result of various policy changes enacted this year. Officials
with the Department of Human Services say they had to make the cuts to
balance the state's budget, and they're counting on health providers and
nonprofits to help keep the safety net intact. Many
doctors, hospital officials and advocates for the poor, however, say the
changes represent a step back from a long-standing state commitment to
increase the ranks of the insured. They also warn that the changes could
cost the state more in the long run. "It's
strictly a financial issue," said Brian Osberg, assistant
commissioner for health at DHS. "We were facing the budget deficit
and we needed to come up with proposals that would protect and preserve
coverage for the elderly, disabled and children." He
noted that, under proposals first considered by the Legislature, the
programs could have been eliminated entirely. Under
the changes: --
Adults without children who learn less than $6,744 in a year -- 75 percent
of the federal poverty level -- and don't have more than $1,000 in assets
will keep full coverage. They will, though, face new co-payments such as
$25 for any nonemergency use of emergency rooms and new payments for
prescription drugs. --
Those earning between $6,744 and $15,720 per year will have the option of
purchasing a new, limited option health care policy intended to cover
outpatient hospital visits and physician services. Enrollees will pay
slightly more for the reduced package -- about $36 per month for someone
earning $12,000 a year -- and total benefits will be capped at $5,000 a
year. --
Anyone earning more than the $15,720 cutoff will lose coverage entirely.
Enrollees previously have been able to continue to purchase insurance for
a limited time even as their income exceeded the cap. "It's
hard as a practicing physician to all of the sudden lose contact with a
patient because they've lost medical coverage," said Dr. Patricia
Lindholm, a family physician in She
noted that Hospital
officials expect to see more of the newly uninsured showing up in
emergency rooms for treatment. Bruce
Rueben, president of the Minnesota Hospital Association, said because of
costly emergency treatment, people should expect to pay more for their
private insurance as hospitals shift costs that the state is no longer
paying to others. But
Osberg said that, even with the changes, "We're
asking hospitals and other providers to become creative in how they can
provide primary care to the uninsured," he said. "We believe
that there will be other ways by which people can access care in a timely
basis." Advocates
for the poor say the new policy, with its sharp cutoff for people who earn
too much, will lead people to stay on low-prospect jobs because earning
slightly more money could cut them from health care entirely. And
Lindholm said she worries that the policy changes will hit especially hard
in rural areas, where amenities such as free clinics, staffed by physician
volunteers, are not as widely available as they are in metro areas. In
all, about 660,000 people remain enrolled in
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
