| Making Sense of Proposed Medicaid Changes |
| (Columbia) - "I read some of it, I tried to
go through it, but I'm not really fully understanding a lot of it,"
says Margaret Bailey. Mrs. Bailey isn't alone. Proposed changes to the state's Medicaid system are confusing and hard to understand. But understand is something she desperately wants to do since she takes care of of her 48-year-old son Gerald, who is autistic, diabetic and dependent on Medicaid. "I'm afraid they're gonna cut off some of the benefits they're giving him," she worries. On that, there's not yet a definite answer. But the fact is, right now 19% of the state's general fund budget goes to Medicaid. In 10 years, that could jump to 30% and state leaders say in order to keep the program from ending, they must begin by amending it. "I don't want us to cut services for beneficiaries and I think many states are doing that and so we need to be proactive and try to find ways to control growth," says Susan Bowling, Deputy Director of Medical Services for the Department of Health and Human Services. Those ways include set spending accounts for those on Medicaid, co-pays and reduced vision and dental services for 19 and 20-year-olds who currently get them. As far as Margaret, who is on Medicare, when it comes to her son's medical expenses, she's not sure she could pick up what the state does now. "That's the thing," she says, "we would have to take over and we're kind of in bad straights ourselves." |