NEWSMEDICARE & MEDICAID

The furor over Scott Walker's union-busting budget-repair bill is causing a national outrage, and rightly so. Taking away workers' collective bargaining rights won't solve Wisconsin's budget woes, and merely serves to limit the rights of workers.

But there's another reason why Walker's bill deserves some negative attention. In January, we brought you the news that Walker was likely to make cuts the state's popular Medicaid program, known as Badgercare. He had promised on the campaign trail to do so, and earlier this month, he lived up to his promises. But instead of simply reducing how much the state spends on the Badgercare, as other cash-strapped governors have done, Walker introduced language that would give the administration "sweeping powers" to change the program, with little legislative oversight.

The Cap Times reports that the Medicaid provision, which is part of the budget-repair bill, "would give the Walker administration unprecedented power to revamp the state's BadgerCare programs without following the legislative processes, public vetting, and even state laws normally required."

The country may be divided politically, but states do have one thing in common: budget shortfalls. And finding ways to plug the holes in expenditures without new sources of revenue means popular health programs are often under the ax.

Last month, we brought you the news of one such proposal in Wisconsin. Newly-elected Governor Scott Walker promised on the campaign trail to cut funding for the state's popular Medicaid program, BadgerCare.

Now it seems he's living up to  his promises. A recently introduced budget repair bill would give the administration "sweeping powers" to rewrite the Medicaid program and change laws regarding medical care for children, adults, the elderly and the disabled.

"It's a shockingly broad delegation of legislative authority to the Department of Health Services. This is the authority to do almost anything to substantially reduce eligibility for children, parents and childless adults, to increase premiums, to change renewal processes, to reduce services, and to change rates. It covers everything," Joe Peacock, research director for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, told the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

Members of the group Arizona 98 are asking supporters to contact Governor Brewer's office this Valentine's Day to urge her to "have a heart" and finally restore funding for the transplant funding program she cut last year.

The group was started after Brewer cut coverage for 98 organ transplant patients enrolled in state's Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).

Steven Daglas, co-founder of the group, suggests calling or emailing Governor Brewer's office with this message: "Arizona legislators on both sides of the aisle now agree funding exists to restore the eliminated organ transplants for AHCCCs patients. Prominent physicians and surgeons agree AHCCCS medical data shows heart, liver, lung, pancreas and bone-marrow transplants work. On this Valentine's Day, please have a heart and restore Arizona transplant funding NOW!"

Daglas also has a petition on Change.org, which is asking Brewer to restore funding for the program, that has already gathered over 1,890 signatures.

In Arizona, the situation for transplant patients has gotten so dire that students are holding benefit concerts to help pay for life-saving treatments denied by the state.

Recently, students at Seton Catholic Prep High School raised $10,000 for their assistant basketball coach, Tiffany Tate, who has cystic fibrosis, a chronic lung disease. Diagnosed at four months, Tate, now 27, was enrolled in the state's organ transplant program until Governor Jan Brewer cut funding last year.

Tate had qualified for a double lung transplant, but after being dropped from the program, the surgery was exorbitant -- $250,000 out-of-pocket. As covered on the Examiner.com, the community has held various fundraising programs to help pay for her life-saving operation -- golf tournaments, a silent auction and donations.

The students did their part for the coach by holding a benefit concert and raising funds online through the National Transplant Assistance Fund.

Perhaps Governor Jan Brewer realized that cutting funding for a life-saving program went too far.

Yesterday, after months of protests from patients, the medical community and advocates, Brewer came up with a measure that could provide funds for the life-saving organ transplant program, which did away with as part of cost-containment measure. In her newly-released executive budget summary, she proposes to put up $50 million -- to be matched by $101 million in federal funds -- that would be used in an uncompensated-care pool to pay health-care providers. According to the summary, "the executive's intention is that providers use this funding to continue life-saving care for the most seriously ill Arizonans to the greatest extent possible."

That doesn't exactly mean that the patients on the organ transplant waiting list are going to get what they need, however. The reimbursements are to be determined by medical professionals. And while obviously they're the best ones to decide, there are many situations that might be deemed a "life-saving" situation. But the main hang-up with the uncompensated pool is the way in which Brewer proposes to fund it  -- by ending Medicaid coverage for 280,000 Arizonans.

When Arizona's governor, Jan Brewer, decided to cut funding for the state's transplant program, she was literally dictating the fate of almost one hundred people awaiting new organs. Though her office claims it must make tough choices in the face of budget shortfalls, a group of patients is proving there are many ways to find the funds to restore the program -- and to immediately save lives.

Five transplant patients, their families, and a Republican Committeeman from Illinois launched the website arizona98.com, for the 98 patients who had been enrolled in the life-saving organ transplant program. The state saves about $1.36 million by cutting the program, so the group came up with 26 alternative funding sources that would supplant these savings. None of the proposals require new spending or cuts other services.

One of the potential funding sources is a $1.25 million dollar "squirrel bridge" that Arizona tried to implement last year. The bridge was going to save endangered red squirrels and was expected to save five critters a year -- until it received widespread media attention and became the source of national ridicule. The unspent money could go to save the lives of 98 humans.

Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services received a performance bonus of $23 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help support the addition of over 85,000 children to the state's Medicaid program, known as BadgerCare. Because of a more efficient process for signing up children and an online renewal option, the agency boosted enrollment by 23 percent in 2010.

The irony of that effort begins this week as the new Republican administration of Scott Walker takes over the governor's office. Vowing on the campaign trail to cut the popular public health assistance program, Walker begins to look for ways to bring the state's serious deficit under control.

Wisconsin's situation is just one example of a struggle that is beginning in many states no longer controlled by Democrats.

With major expansions under outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, BadgerCare has grown to include 767,000 state residents, including 455,000 children. Coverage had been expanded under Doyle and, interestingly, under BadgerCare founder, former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. But the program has seen rising costs over the last ten years, and for the 2011-2013 budget, there is a funding shortfall of $300 million.

Proponents of BadgerCare are concerned about the rhetoric they hear from the Walker camp.  

When Republicans talk about health care rationing, they are almost always hoping to equate it (erroneously) to health care reform. But in Arizona, Republican rationing has led to the denial of life-saving treatments -- and has resulted in another death.

As reported in The Arizona Republic, a second transplant candidate has died because they were denied coverage after Governor Jan Brewer slashed funding for the state's Medicaid program for organ transplants.

Hospital officials say that the budget cuts were to blame for the patients death. "We believe that it's likely that they died because they were unable to get a transplant," a University Medical Center spokesperson told the paper.

This is the second patient to have died since Brewer pulled the plug on certain transplants in Arizona's Medicaid program, the Health Care Cost Containment System. Patients that were covered by the state and waiting for a transplant were cut from the program effective October 1st, leading to what some doctors are calling "death by budget cuts."

It's unusual to find cat food at a book release, but that's what representatives of the labor-backed Alliance for Retired Americans were handing out to the attendees of the launch party for "Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders." Among other things, the book outlines ways to privatize Social Security and Medicare into a voucher system.

The protest targeted Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis), who co-authored the book with House Republicans Eric Cantor of Virginia and Kevin McCarthy of California. All won their campaigns last night.

"We'll all be eating cat food when we're old and gray," a protester shouted to attendees, Kaiser Health News reports. They raised up the cans of cat food, calling them "young gun chow" and "Ryan retirement meal."

Privatizing Medicare is something that's been threatened by conservatives numerous times. The idea is to get rid of Medicare over time by giving seniors a payment to purchase private health coverage. Ryan, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee and a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, has particular sway over the programs. Although previous legislation hasn't gained much traction, the Republicans leading the House could help push forward the agenda.

With the mid-term elections just over four weeks away, political ads are heating up, especially among Republican candidates vowing to change or even repeal the health reform bill passed just six short months ago. They hope to benefit from the confusion many Americans have regarding the reform and how it will actually impact them. The Obama Administration was able to overcome the enormous challenge of the getting reform passed, but a recent poll indicates they now face their toughest sell yet -- the American public.

The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll reflects the lack of understanding on key features of the legislation and the need to ramp up easy to understand public education on the topic. In the September poll of 1,200 adults, including 1,081 "likely" voters, 53 percent said that they are "confused" by the health reform bill, the highest level since April.  Overall, 49 percent said they have a favorable opinion of reform versus 40 percent who do not, but the split is much closer among likely voters -- 46 percent like it and 45 percent don't.

As expected, there is still a clear partisan divide with 75 percent of Democrats favoring the bill and 73 percent of Republicans opposing it. Those that identify themselves as Independents have maintained a steady opinion with a favorable rating in the low 40 percent range.  Consistent among all groups is the specific populations thought to benefit from health reform -- low-income families, the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions. Respondents were unclear if the bill would help either small businesses or "you and your family." One group that is thought to benefit the least was big business, with only 24 percent saying health reform is good for large organizations.