Parents Of Disabled Children Press N.C. Officials To Reconsider Cuts To Medicaid Services
The state had recommended cutting a program that provides help to families with children who are medically fragile. Also, Colorado officials are challenged on their policy to provide Medicaid coverage for expensive hepatitis C medications only to the sickest patients.
North Carolina Health News:
Parents Of Disabled Kids Weigh In On Proposed Medicaid Changes
About 2,200 to 2,300 kids in North Carolina are medically fragile, like Lydia Nell, and qualify for [Community Alternatives Program for Children]. Usually, Medicaid caps the amount of money a family can make to qualify for the program. But for families like the Nells, the federal government allows a waiver to the usual Medicaid rules. Last year, North Carolina’s federal waiver needed to be renewed. But the plan DHHS unveiled in April set off alarm bells: Service hours for families were slashed, among other changes. ... The outcry forced DHHS to announce in May that they would rework the waiver application. (Hoban, 7/28)
The Denver Post:
Only The Sickest Coloradans On Medicaid Get Breakthrough Treatment For Hepatitis C
It’s not until the final two stages of liver damage that needy Coloradans with the blood-borne hepatitis C virus get access to a life-saving drug with a 90-percent cure rate and an exorbitant price tag. “You’ve got to be on death’s door before they will treat you,” said David Higginbotham, a Colorado Medicaid beneficiary who contracted the virus 35 years ago while working as a hospital surgical tech. ... Now pressure for change is increasing against the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which has restricted access to the breakthrough drug due to its cost. (Brown, 7/29)