California gives the poor a new legal right, By Carol J. Williams, October 17, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “California is embarking on an unprecedented civil court experiment to pay for attorneys to represent poor litigants who find themselves battling powerful adversaries in vital matters affecting their livelihoods and families. The program is the first in the nation to recognize a right to representation in key civil cases and provide it for people fighting eviction, loss of child custody, domestic abuse or neglect of the elderly or disabled. Advocates for the poor say the law, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed this week, levels the legal playing field and gives underprivileged litigants a better shot at attaining justice against unscrupulous landlords, abusive spouses, predatory lenders and other foes. Although some analysts worry that it could swell state court dockets or eat up resources better spent on other needs of the poor, the pilot project that won bipartisan endorsement in the state Assembly will be financed by a $10 increase in court fees for prevailing parties…”
Day: October 19, 2009
Home Foreclosures and Homelessness
Foreclosures force ex-homeowners to turn to shelters, By Peter S. Goodman, October 18, 2009, New York Times: “The first night after she surrendered her house to foreclosure, Sheri West endured the darkness in her Hyundai sedan. She parked in her old driveway, with her flower-print dresses and hats piled in boxes on the back seat, and three cherished houseplants on the floor. She used her backyard as a restroom. The second night, she stayed with a friend, and so it continued for more than a year: Ms. West – mother of three grown children, grandmother to six and great-grandmother to one – passed months on the couches of friends and relatives, and in the front seat of her car. But this fall, she exhausted all options. She had once owned and overseen a group home for homeless people. Now, she succumbed to that status herself, checking in to a shelter…”
States and Health Insurance Coverage
- Medicaid, S-CHIP expansion plan could hurt states’ budgets, By Richard Wolf, October 18, 2009, USA Today: “The government programs that provide health care to the poor would expand to cover nearly one in five Americans under health insurance legislation pending in Congress, putting pressure on federal and state budgets. Medicaid, one of the fastest-growing government programs for two decades, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would grow from about 50 million people today to more than 60 million in 2019, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office and Kaiser Family Foundation. That would be the biggest single expansion since Medicaid was created in 1965…”
- Medicaid expansion brings pro, con reactions, By Emily Bregel, October 19, 2009, Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Local physicians said health care reform proposals to expand Medicaid coverage drastically, while well-intentioned, are likely unsustainable. ‘Where is the money going to come from to make this happen?’ said Dr. Mack Worthington, a family practice physician in Chattanooga who said almost one-quarter of his patients are on TennCare. ‘I’m all for increasing access, but I just wonder how it’s going to be funded.’ The U.S. Senate Finance Committee last week passed a health reform proposal that would expand Medicaid programs to anyone who earns up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or about $29,000 a year for a family of four…”
- Uninsured & overwhelmed, By Ben Piper, October 18, 2009, Hattiesburg American: “Casey Little finds herself in a health care predicament. Little, 25, of Seminary needs health insurance to be able to afford treatments that could relieve the pain she suffers from fibromyalgia. But the nerve disorder has left her constantly hurting, unable to work – and unable to get insurance…”
- Pressure mounts: 12,000 caught in a backlog, By Andra Bryan Stefanoni, October 19, 2009, Joplin Globe: “When Candice Sinclair was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she applied for Medicaid to cover her expenses and those of her soon-to-be-born son, Jake. That was in June. Their applications still haven’t been processed, meaning Sinclair is left without means to pay an estimated $5,000 hospital bill, and for Jake’s first year of immunizations and checkups…”
- Kansas has backlog of 12,000 Medicaid applications, Associated Press, October 19, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Rising unemployment, the swelling ranks of the uninsured, outdated technology and the state’s budget problems have led to a backlog of 12,000 Medicaid applications in Kansas, health officials said. A contractor that processes applications for the Kansas Health Policy Authority is supposed to complete them in two to six weeks, but has taken up to four months in some cases…”
- Lessons from the Massachusetts healthcare experiment, By James Oliphant and Kim Geiger, October 17, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Three years ago, Massachusetts passed the most sweeping healthcare bill in the country, adopting a plan that closely resembles the proposals being considered by Congress. It is a plan that now offers powerful lessons for the whole nation. The state’s system, like the proposals moving toward votes in the House and Senate, focused on three goals: making medical insurance almost universal, fostering competition through a regulated insurance exchange, and helping low-income workers pay for coverage. Today, Massachusetts leads the nation with 96% of its residents covered by insurance — an even larger share than some of the plans before Congress would cover. The employer-based insurance system remains intact despite fears that the state’s healthcare overhaul might cause companies to pull back…”