Mississippi Editorial: Dialysis: Shouldn’t be treated as ‘political football’

Mississippi Editorial: Dialysis: Shouldn’t be treated as ‘political football’

From the (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger
March 07, 2007 09:18 am

— The adage is true that legislating is like making sausage — it’s messy and if you watched it being made, you might not want to eat it — but how did lawmakers “forget” dialysis funding?
More than 500 low-income dialysis patients dependent on state Medicaid for travel to and from treatment are now having to beg lawmakers for funding.
“We have no money,” House Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, told representatives. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, said he would try to “fix it” this week.
But it must be wondered why lawmakers would allow such a “crisis.” They’ve known about this for weeks.
The National Kidney Foundation of Mississippi, which has coordinated the transportation program through Medicaid, ran out of funds in mid-February.
Lawmakers spent $3 million on the program this year; the House wants $3.9 million. It should be a simple funding matter.
But it seems that nothing involving Medicaid spending is “simple.” The program stems from Medicaid’s Poverty Level Aged and Disabled category that was such a hot potato when Gov. Haley Barbour ordered the transition of 65,000 residents from Medicaid, with Medicare taking over drug coverage for the former PLAD residents, and no provision made for transportation.
Before that, as outlined in The Clarion-Ledger’s 2002 series “Examining Medicaid: The Cost Of The Crisis,” dialysis treatment was one of the first services cut by lawmakers to draw attention to other political issues because it’s so poignant — and travel service reimbursements themselves have been subject to waste, fraud and abuse.
Whether the current “crisis” is merely an oversight in “making sausage” or a political football in wresting more dollars for — and votes from — constituents is unclear. In either case, funding should be provided.

— The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger

URL: http://www.leadercall.com/cnhi/leadercall/opinion/local_story_066091808.html