Ariz. Cuts Transplant Coverage; 2 Patients Die-After State Nixes Medicaid Coverage as Budget Fix

[kpete]

Source: CBS

Ariz. Cuts Transplant Coverage; Two Patients Die
Second Death Attributed to Non-Treatment after State Nixes Medicaid Coverage for Transplants as Budget Fix

PHOENIX - A second person denied transplant coverage by Arizona under a state budget cut has died, with this death "most likely" resulting from the coverage reduction, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

University Medical Center spokeswoman Jo Marie Gellerman said the patient died Dec. 28 at another medical facility after earlier being removed from UMC's list for a liver transplant needed because of hepatitis C.

Gellerman cited medical privacy requirements in declining to release any information about the patient.

Arizona reduced Medicaid coverage for transplants on Oct. 1 under cuts included to help close a shortfall in the state budget enacted last spring.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/06/health/main7219326.shtml?tag=stack

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MORE on this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x128512

[AngryAmish]

1. Are those doctors so greedy that they won't do charity cases?

They sicken me.

Guess what, you assholes. You are in a profession. Part of being a professional is helping people who need your help but can't pay for it.

What? You can't hear me over the sound of your maserati? Well, fuck you then.

[Betty]

3. how many people can afford transplant surgery

without help from some kind of insurance? And how many of those are on Medicare? That's going to be a lot of charity cases. I don't think expecting doctors to work for free is the answer, it would mean them donating their services constantly.

[Justitia]

5. Well, as the mother of a transplant patient, it's a bit more complicated....

Yes, you need highly talented surgeons for the procedure, but that's really a small part of the whole experience.

A doctor could theoretically donate his services, but after-care for transplant patients will last the rest of their lives.


A transplant patient must take anti-rejection meds (among usually several others) for the rest of their lives.
My son's medications cost $5000 per month - forever.

If a patient does not have the resources (medicaid, medicare, state programs or private insurance) to cover those meds, their transplant will die.
Also, there is never ending clinic visits and blood work, etc. that also never go away.

So, even if a transplant doc donated his talent, it would be completely pointless if the patient has no financial way to keep their transplant.

Transplant centers go over this in great detail with all potential transplant recipients.
I have actually seen some patients de-list themselves because they knew they had no way to pay for aftercare (kidney cases).

The fact that we let this happen to our citizens who have survived transplants, only to die for lack of sustaining meds, is a national embarrassment and does not happen in any other developed nation on earth.

[Denninmi]

2. Well, it's about time those slackers get off the public teat.

One way or the other.

I for one am grateful that the top 1% will still have those Bush era tax rates.

After all, had taxes gone up, some of that money might have gone towards a kidney for a ne'er do well, not a new Mercedes for some CEO. And, we all know whose life is more valuable.

:sarcasm:

Yeah, I knew it would come to this -- it's now a capital offense to be sick and poor.

It's just one step away from the cattle cars and camps, IMO.

[CountAllVotes]

4. gee, why am I not surprised

The poor guy was on Medicaid which = go to hell LOSER! :mad:

Damn these holier than thou doctors!

May they reap what they sow!

:kick:

[SoapBox]

6. Brewer Care = MURDER

[Raschel]

7. Now that's what I call a real death panel.

[howmad1]

8. Why blame the doctors?

I don't hear anyone complaining about that fucking witch governor Jan Brewer, who instigated this whole mess. I just put a new bumper sticker on my car: Jan Brewer Death Panel Chairperson. Gonna piss of lots of repukes in this sake. So who gives a fuck.

[CountAllVotes]

9. this is just one example

This crap is going on all over the place including where I live.

The allergy medication I've needed to take for the past 15 years is no longer a "covered benefit". They (the mail order pharmacy that I am forced to use) is telling me to buy something over-the-counter and ignore doctor orders. As for the doctor - too "busy" to deal with this ...

The pharmaceutical industry is entwined in this bottomless pit of greed and Jan Brewer is just one person living in that same pit that is not unique to Arizona. She is just one of many, believe me, puke or no puke.

As I wrote last night, I do not blame the patient. I blame the doctors, the hospitals, the insurance industry, and the pharmaceutical industry as they are up to their necks in this whole disgusting thing called medical care in the USA. One is dependent upon the other to exist and I give a fuck, oh yes I do. :grr: :argh:

[onehandle]

10. Death Panel State. nt

[truth2power]

11. Just a reminder...there was a recent thread about the possibility

of Cheney getting a heart transplant**. Someone posted on that thread that Cheney should go to AZ and see how they feel about transplants.

Yeah, you can believe that that evil f*ck, Cheney, would be first in line for a transplant. Now, THAT is sickening.

**It's been said that he would be an unlikely candidate because his vessels are probably in such bad shape. I have no expertise to know, one way or the other.

[sasquuatch55]

12. Physician heal thyself!

nt