Clip files / Local news from the states
This column features selected short items about state health care policy.
PA first state to use Medicaid for autism
HARRISBURGPennsylvania has become the first state in the nation to receive the federal government's permission to spend federal Medicaid dollars on services that enable autistic adults to live more independently. Gov. Ed Rendell said the state received approval for a waiver from existing Medicaid rules to spend $20 million a year on home and community-based services for autistic adults. Federal special-education law requires public schools to provide services for children with autism and other disabilities through age 21, but no similar entitlement has been available in Pennsylvania for adults with the disorder.
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have previously allowed states to spend Medicaid money on programs targeting autistic children, but not adults, spokeswoman Mary Kahn said. Autism is a complex developmental disability usually not diagnosed in children until after age 3. It is characterized by repetitive behaviors and poor social interaction and communication skills.
Pennsylvania's waiver program is expected to serve up to 200 autistic adults who meet certain eligibility requirements based on income and on the severity of their disability. The Department of Public Welfare, which oversees programs for the disabled, has no statistics on how many adult Pennsylvanians have the disorder, spokeswoman Anne Bale said.
The federal money will help pay for a wide range of services, such as respite aid for relatives who care for autistic adults and crisis intervention, Ms. Bale said.
Associated Press, 5/23/08
Advocates fear vulnerable group will lose benefits
NASHVILLEHealth care advocates fear that 140,000 TennCare enrollees will lose their benefits in the coming year, and they are urging legislators to create a safety net now. The Tennessee Health Care Campaign calls for using up to $125 million of existing TennCare budget money to treat the sickest of these enrollees, who have been exempt from annual eligibility checks and are expected to face re-evaluation. The funds would be used to treat about 20,000 people with severe mental illness and life-threatening conditions, such as transplant patients needing anti-rejection drugs and cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment. We are not asking to take care of all those who could be cut, just the 20,000 whose medical conditions are so serious that it could jeopardize their lives or the lives of others," said Tony Garr, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, a health care advocacy group. "As a caring, civilized group of people, we need to make sure we don't place people's lives at risk."
However, Marilyn Wilson, TennCare's spokeswoman, said providing medical care for these enrollees and not others, who have been found to be ineligible, wouldn't be fair. She said in an average month, 20,000 people lose TennCare, the state's insurance program for the poor and disabled, because they are no longer eligible, and another 22,000 new enrollees are added. "Every dollar you use to serve someone who isn't eligible, you take away from someone who is eligible," Ms. Wilson said. "Those taxpayer dollars are meant to provide care for people who are eligible for the program." Furthermore, she added that it is premature to speculate on how many people will lose coverage before a re-evaluation process takes place.
Nashville Tennessean, 5/11/08
Pennsylvania has become the first state in the nation to receive the federal government's permission to spend federal Medicaid dollars on services that enable autistic adults to live more independently.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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