Word: medicaid
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...state of Oregon and California's Alameda County, which includes Oakland, are on the verge of taking that seemingly drastic step. In April, the Oregon senate passed a bill that would extend Medicaid coverage to 86,000 low-income people previously not covered. There would, however, be limits to the care they could expect. The measure, now before the lower house, would also establish a commission of experts and consumers to rank health services in order of importance; the legislature would then decide which to finance. Oregon has already set up committees of doctors, nurses and social workers to & establish...
...experts who favor rationing as a solution note that the reality of it is not new. In 1987 Oregon decided that it would no longer pay for organ transplants for Medicaid patients, even as the legislature added $5 million to the state budget for prenatal care. Many doctors readily admit that applicants for new high-tech operations have to pass a "green screen" or "wallet biopsy" -- meaning those who can pay get first crack at the operations...
...many opponents argue that the new Oregon and Alameda County regulations are inherently unfair, since the limits on health-care protection apply only to the poor, particularly the young. Dr. Sam Flint, a director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, notes that children account for roughly 50% of the Medicaid population but receive only about one-fifth of health-care dollars. Meanwhile, the elderly get about 40% of those funds...
...Literally, if we passed the Medicaid number in this, we would put ourselves into deficiency," said Senate Ways and Means Chair Patricia McGovern (D-Lawrence...
Chief among the cuts was $192 million in Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes...