State planning to tighten rules for free care
State planning to tighten rules for free care
Romney aides want more Medicaid enrollees
By Alice Dembner, Boston Globe Staff, August 3, 2005
Two weeks after Governor Mitt Romney proposed legislation to provide health insurance for all state residents, his administration is moving to change the rules for a ''free care" program in ways that advocates say could make it harder for the uninsured to get healthcare.
Under the rules, which would become effective Oct. 1, hundreds of thousands of uninsured residents would have to pay $3 to $5 copayments toward their medical care, which studies have shown can scare away poorer patients. In addition, some patients who currently get services through the state's free-care program, but have other options for coverage, would be excluded, and prescription coverage for all uninsured would be restricted.
The moves are designed to make sure that the free-care program is not more attractive than MassHealth, the state's Medicaid insurance program for low-income patients, according to the administration. It wants to encourage more patients to enroll in MassHealth, in which costs are shared by the state and federal governments. Financing of the free-care program -- $502 million for fiscal year 2006 -- comes from taxpayers, hospitals, and health insurers. An additional rationale for the changes, the administration said, is to make the free-care pool more like the insurance plans that Romney's legislation lays out.
Click here for the rest of the story >
Romney aides want more Medicaid enrollees
By Alice Dembner, Boston Globe Staff, August 3, 2005
Two weeks after Governor Mitt Romney proposed legislation to provide health insurance for all state residents, his administration is moving to change the rules for a ''free care" program in ways that advocates say could make it harder for the uninsured to get healthcare.
Under the rules, which would become effective Oct. 1, hundreds of thousands of uninsured residents would have to pay $3 to $5 copayments toward their medical care, which studies have shown can scare away poorer patients. In addition, some patients who currently get services through the state's free-care program, but have other options for coverage, would be excluded, and prescription coverage for all uninsured would be restricted.
The moves are designed to make sure that the free-care program is not more attractive than MassHealth, the state's Medicaid insurance program for low-income patients, according to the administration. It wants to encourage more patients to enroll in MassHealth, in which costs are shared by the state and federal governments. Financing of the free-care program -- $502 million for fiscal year 2006 -- comes from taxpayers, hospitals, and health insurers. An additional rationale for the changes, the administration said, is to make the free-care pool more like the insurance plans that Romney's legislation lays out.
Click here for the rest of the story >
2 Comments:
These articles are interesting, but I'd really like to hear what you have to say about them.
Romney has done great things for health care and helped many receive health insurance coverage.
Post a Comment
<< Home