South Carolina Medicaid Eliminates Hospice Coverage
So, what will thousands of dying people do without adequate end-of-life care? And what will HIV patients do when they are denied coverage and can't get life saving anti-retroviral drugs and routine doctors visits? They will most likely end up in the Emergency Department of their local hospital, costing the state much more money in hospital bills than they would have spent by offering adequate coverage. Hmmmm...... I'm missing how that can make any sense at all.
Jeff Stensland, Health and Human Services spokesman said about the cuts, "We're not happy about having to do any of these." I know your not, Jeff. Nobody really wants to make cuts to anyone's coverage but these are some of our neediest U.S. citizens. Denying them the most essential care at the end of their lives and denying them HIV medications is abhorring. There has to be a better way. We rally to make these basic needs accessible to people in third world countries and yet we don't even blink when we take them away from our own citizens. No sense at all.
Read more about South Carolina's Medicaid cuts and leave your comments below.
Comments
I am a bit confused. Wouldn’t most end-stage AIDS patients be disabled and therefore eligible for Medicare, and wouldn’t Medicare cover the hospice care? Also, it seems that you’re discussing anti-retroviral therapy as if it were a part of end-of-life care, but therapy is never a part of hospice care, is it?
I never like to see cuts in medical care…I’m just confused about what these changes really mean. Thanks.
Actually… It seems some cancer patients will be harder hit by the hospice rule than AIDS patients. Medicare requires a 2 year waiting period for coverage in younger people. End-stage AIDS patients would probably have the two years, but people with aggressive solid cancers might not.
Because Medicare only covers people age 65 or older, people under age 65 with “certain disabilities” after a 2 year waiting period, and people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease, many people can be disabled with an illness and at the end of their life without qualifying for Medicare benefits.
Medicaid is only for low income individuals and “certain group” which may vary by state. Individuals who don’t qualify for Medicare and can’t afford health insurance can apply for Medicaid but they really do have to be low income without any major assets.
The new regulations in South Carolina have eliminated hospice care for Medicaid only patients. The only other way for Medicaid patients to get end-of-life care would be through charity hospices.
HIV is a separate issue from hospice care but is equally disturbing. South Carolina Medicaid will deny enrollment of HIV patients, leaving low income HIV patients without any coverage.
If this is true, it is appalling. What an inhumane and inefficient way to address the economic crisis.
And what a way to generate a new and potentially large public health problem which in the long run can be much more expensive.
I hope there are public health advisers in SC who can help stop this bad idea before it is too late.
This is terrible. My mother recently died while receiving hospice services covered by Medicaid. I can’t imagine what either of us would have done if our state’s Medicaid had opted to not cover hospice, as she was not eligible for any other sort of coverage. Not only would I have had to drop out of school to care for her but she would not have gotten the pain management and general care that she needed and deserved.
The decision regarding people living with HIV is in some ways even more disgusting as it is basically sentencing them to death. Without Medicaid, how are they supposed to be getting their ARVs?!?! Magic? This decision is officially stating and ideology that our country’s health care system has represented for years; if you are rich, you get top notch medical care, if you are poor, well you can just die. And don’t expect any palliative care services while you’re at it.
I hope there is some way this policy change can be turned around ASAP.
How terrible. Makes me sick. Cuts do not need to be cut in end of life medical care. People in this country should not be allowed to be afraid to be old. This country is very bad about that. Hoping things will change.
The people making these changes do not usually have to worry about this… or anything else either