Is coverage decaying?, By Katelyn Ferral, July 3, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Going to the dentist can be a pain – but for Scott Oster, the pain came from not being able to find one. A toothache led Oster, 48, to enroll in the state’s BadgerCare program for dental care. But after calling every dental office on the agency’s list, Oster came up empty. ‘I’ve got the insurance; there’s just nobody that accepts it,’ said Oster, an unemployed welder. ‘I never dealt with the same person twice. That was one part that really drove me nuts.’ A Journal Sentinel reporter called every dental office listed for the city of Milwaukee on the BadgerCare Plus website. Of the 114 providers listed, only three were accepting new BadgerCare patients. BadgerCare is a Medicaid program jointly funded by the state and the federal government. The state has moved to expand BadgerCare so more have coverage, but doctors say the reimbursements for dental care are too low. That is keeping many from participating in the program…”
Day: July 9, 2010
New York City Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program
Council cuts health plan that helped poor people, By Anemona Hartocollis, July 8, 2010, New York Times: “A program that for a decade helped New York City’s poor and elderly navigate their way through insurance problems – and that became a model for a similar federal program – has become a casualty of city budget cuts, an administrator of the program said on Thursday. The $4 million program sent ombudsmen to 25 social service agencies across the city, including the Legal Aid Society and agencies serving Latino, Asian, Polish and Jewish communities across the city. Those ombudsmen were trained to help people obtain insurance, get health services and contest claims that had been denied by insurance companies and hospitals. The program helped about 10,000 people a year, said David R. Jones, president of the Community Service Society, which administered it. Mr. Jones said that he had expected the program, formally known as the New York City Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program, to be cut back to some degree in a tough budget year. But he was surprised to learn on Saturday that the city’s $2 million share of the program, which was matched by federal aid, had been cut entirely from the budget approved by the City Council last week. As a result, the city will receive no federal money for the program…”