Is managed care the answer for dual eligibles?
More and more persons with disabilities are among the
growing number of dual eligibles, i.e. people eligible for both Medicare and
Medicaid coverage. Persons with
disabilities are eligible for Medicare either because of age or their
disability and are eligible for Medicaid because of the poverty that has been
forced upon them.
There are good arguments both for and against managed
care for this population, as can be seen from this article in the LA
Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-healthcare-duals-20111114,0,3197520.story.
Whatever we do to make healthcare better for this
population now, we need to be realistic about how this problem came about and
decide how to prevent this in the future.
What we do now is focus on one aspect of policy at a time and try to put
a bandaid on it. What we end up with is
an unwieldy and unworkable system.
A disability policy that is based on current reality,
that does not force persons with disabilities to live in poverty in order to
obtain critical services is needed soon.
Current policy is so expensive the system is about to implode. It is possible to have a policy that saves
government many dollars and still improve the lives of persons with
disabilities.
Annette Bourbonniere
401-846-1960
Fax: 401-846-1944
Twitter:
@AccessInclude
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