States Cut Medicaid Drug Benefits To Save Money
Illinois Medicaid recipients have been limited to four prescription drugs as the state becomes the latest to cap how many medicines it will cover in the state-federal health insurance program for the poor.
Doctors fear the state's cost-cutting move could backfire on patients, who have to get state permission to go beyond the limit.
"We understand the state is trying to get its Medicaid budget under control," says Dr. William Werner, president of the Illinois State Medical Society. "But our concern is it not be a hardship for patients and a hassle for doctors in the execution."
Sixteen states impose a monthly limit on the number of drugs Medicaid recipients can receive and seven states have either enacted such caps or tightened them in the past two years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KHN is a program of the foundation). The limits vary across the country. Mississippi has a limit of two brand-name drugs. In Arkansas adults are limited to up six drugs a month.
Since June, Alabama has had the nation’s stingiest Medicaid drug benefit after limiting adults to one brand-name drug. HIV and psychiatric drugs were excluded. On Aug. 1 the state will relax the limit to its previous level — four brand-name drugs — after the restriction saved more money than expected and the state received money as part of a settlement with a pharmaceutical company.
Jarod Speer, a family doctor in Childersburg, Ala., welcomed the state’s decision. He said the one brand-name drug limit put his patients at risk. "This is going to remove a lot of the obstacles we were facing," he says. "Most patients can be managed with generics and three or four brand-name drugs."
While most drugs have a generic equivalent, his patients with asthma and other lung diseases faced limited options without access to brands, says Speer, who practices about 30 miles east of Birmingham.
Alabama Medicaid officials were happy to rescind the one drug limit, which affected 14,000 people, but defended its need.
"At the end of the day, we have to provide care, but we have to have a balanced budget," says Alabama State Health Officer Donald Williamson, who acknowledged reports that some patients with chronic diseases were having trouble finding generic replacements.
Other states with Medicaid drug limits are Arkansas, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Replies
We knew this was coming. Harry Reid is a liar. Nancy Pelosi is a liar. Obama is a liar. We don't need people like that in the US government.
Also the FDA is letting the drug companys make the generic drug cheap and in a lot of cases they are killing the people.. Like staton drugs to lower chloesteral, they know that staton drugs will distroy your kidneys but you dont hear a thing as they push the drugs on the people...
Nice now we will be told when we will die. I dont know what need to be done they wont fire the fisrt shot and niether will we. but the traitor needs to be contasimed. he is the traitor of the US. I hope we never have to deal with this kind of person ever again VOTE in november or die by his hand. I woupd rather die on my feet then die on my knees! HooRah!
Healthcare rationing has arrived. All of us over 65s need to get ready for our end of life counseling. Me, I'll go only because I can't afford to lose my social security, however, my answer to all of their questions will be, none of your damn business. It seems to me that somewhere in the back of my mind I recall that one of the questions will be about firearms ownership. The VA is already asking if you have ever felt like hurting someone. Answer yes and kiss your concealed carry permit goodbye.
The way things are going in this country....I'm almost ready to go to my end of life counseling session....I aim to go down fighting!
So if you show up to your end of life counseling session armed, wouldn't it be a lot more of a two-way conversation? hehehe
Everyone talks a lot but noone is doing anything. We have to stand up to this somehow. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. We cannot sit down and let them take away everything from us. Let us come together and do something other than talk.
We can fax Republicans in congress to DEFUND Obamacare! Not Too Late-
UPDATE: "Leader Reid And I Have Reached An Agreement" -Statement from John Boehner's Office
But... Boehner and Reid and liberals in the Lamestream Media are hoping you'll forget that John Boehner is only Speaker of the House... not Dictator of the House, and that Congress MUST STILL VOTE on Mr. Boehner's backroom deal.
It's NOT a done-deal. Boehner desperately needs to convince enough of his fellow Republicans in Congress to join him in this gross and disgusting betrayal BEFORE YOU CAN GET TO THEM.
And we don't have a moment to lose. Sources are telling us that far too many Republicans are wavering specifically because they ARE NOT hearing from enough patriotic Americans; and they are starting to buy into the Washington lie that defunding ObamaCare is just not all that important to you.
Do we need say any more? They need to hear from you RIGHT NOW. You have the power to make your elected officials keep their promises. The only question that remains is: Are you willing to exercise that power, right here and right now?
Use the button or the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Faxes to each and every one of the Members of the Republican Leadership of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Or alternately, send your urgent Blast Faxes to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. That's more than 285 individual faxes from you to each and every one of these legislators.
If button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.
As Long As Harry Reid Says It's Okay, I'll Fight Tooth And Nail To Repeal ObamaCare.
But he won't.
Instead, full of bluster and bravado, Boehner paraded before the cameras on CBS' Meet The Press on July 1, 2012 and, once again, vowed to do whatever it takes to stop ObamaCare.
Practically thumping his chest, he said: "It has to be ripped out by its roots."And he added: "We will not flinch from our resolve to make sure this law is repealed in its entirety."
But he didn't just "flinch." He turned his back. True to form... true to what we've come to expect from this weepy Republican Leader-In-Name-Only... he is trying to renege on his solemn promise.
And since we're on the subject of things Boehner would say if he were shooting straight with the American people, let's add the following: Now hold your horses for just a minute. Holding symbolic votes on repeal to convince the rubes and yokels to vote GOP in November is one thing. Actually stopping the implementation of ObamaCare, when I have the power to do so now... well, that's another thing altogether.
Make no mistake. Boehner's trying to go back on his word, plain and simple, and we're not about to let him get away with it.
Use the button or the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Faxes to each and every one of the Members of the Republican Leadership of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Or alternately, send your urgent Blast Faxes to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. That's more than 285 individual faxes from you to each and every one of these legislators.
If button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.
Holding Symbolic Votes On Repeal Is One Thing. Actually Exerting The Legitimate And Constitutionally Granted Power Of The House Is Another Thing Altogether.
Sending Boehner a letter that has now been signed by 127 House Republicans, they asked him to take the lead and allow the House of Representatives to wield its legitimate and constitutionally granted power of the purse to "rescind all ObamaCare implementation funds."
But when the press asked Boehner if he would be heeding the advise of the clear majority of the members of his own caucus, the bravado faded to a sniveling whimper.
Boehner equivocated, and then, out of the blue, he said: "Our goal would be to make sure the government is funded and any political talk of a government shutdown is put to rest."
At that point, it all became all too clear.
What Boehner really meant to say when he pontificated on Meet The Presswas: We will not flinch from our resolve to make sure this law is repealed in its entirety as long as Barack Obama and Harry Reid say it's okay.
And we're not about to take this latest exhibition of spinelessness and....
It's time to let our Republican Leaders-In-Name-Only know that We The People have declared Congress a coward-free zone and that they either need to g....
Use the button or the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Faxes to each and every one of the Members of the Republican Leadership of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Or alternately, send your urgent Blast Faxes to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. That's more than 285 individual faxes from you to each and every one of these legislators.
Only a fool or charlatan would be happy about having reached a deal with Harry Reid. Reaching an agreement with Harry Reid is like making a deal with the devil. Regardless of the out come you lose. Boehner is just another weak kneed yellow livered coward with as much backbone as a plate of spaghetti.
This is off topic but it critical.
Clearly, it was jolting news the New Mexico Legislature's Water and Natural Resources Committee wasn't prepared for.
During Monday's committee meeting, in the Barbara Hubbard Room at the Pan American Center Annex, lawyers representing the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, Elephant Butte Irrigation District, and the city of Las Cruces, told the committee that ... the U.S. government is apparently trying to take over legal management of the state's water supply. The federal government has asserted claims for damages to groundwater in a natural resource damage case in New Mexico involving Chevron/Molycorp.
The claim seeks for those damages to be awarded in the form of future water rights management.
Read more: http://times247.com/articles/feds-suing-to-control-new-mexico-s-wat...