Beth Capell, Ph.D., Policy Consultant for Health Access California, responds on the Medicaid waivers:
Don:
As bleak as your assessment is, it is not bleak enough.
In Utah as elsewhere, the cuts envisioned under the waivers approved by the Bush Administration occurred but NOT the expansions of coverage; so as bad as the original deal was, the reality is worse.
In California, for the moment, we have stopped the proposal to move seniors and persons with disabilities into mandatory Medi-Cal HMOs. This was a hard fight won in the last days of the legislative session; it may be revisited next year. California like a number of other states was held hostage for essential hospital funding.
Hurricane victims need help now, not months from now. It can take not just months but years to negotiate waivers, especially for states that have under-funded Medicaid programs to begin with.
Beth Capell, Ph.D.