Baldwin hears from Medicaid recipients in Superior

Yahoo

a day ago

May 29—SUPERIOR — The Lake Superior Community Health Center relies on Medicaid reimbursements to fund 60% to 70% of its budget in any given year, according to CEO Lee Homan.
The health care facility in East End provided space Thursday, May 29, for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., to hear from area residents about their concerns after House Republicans advanced
a budget bill
May 22 that would change Medicaid.
Baldwin said the bill includes cuts that could potentially kick 14 million Americans, including 228,000 Wisconsinites, off their health insurance.
However, U.S. Rep Tom Tiffany, R-Wisconsin, said "cuts" isn't the right word. It's about reforming the system that was designed to help people with disabilities, pregnant mothers and indigent people, he told the Telegram in a phone call.
"We want to save the program, OK, because otherwise it's going to go broke," Tiffany said.
Baldwin has a different view of the bill, which is still awaiting a vote in the Senate.
"They used tricks in order to mask the cuts that they were making ... like work reporting requirements," she said. "Well, most people on Medicaid work, but these reporting requirements and having them more frequent are meant to trip you up so that you lose your eligibility even though you're eligible. There are all sorts of gimmicks, but most of it is more paperwork, more bureaucracy, and frankly more government to process that red tape."
Barbara Sorensen, who has a 43-year-old son on Medicaid, told the congresswoman it takes about five weeks from receiving the first letter to recertification for Medicaid.
"I can't imagine doing it twice a year, and who's going to pay for it?" Sorensen said. "It's an unfunded mandate."
Her son has relied on Medicaid all of his life after being diagnosed with autism, low muscle tone and sensory integration problems, Sorensen said. She said he didn't walk until he was 34 months old but still managed to graduate from high school and has worked for the city of Ashland picking up litter since 2002.
"Those people who are writing these bills don't know that they're already working," Sorensen said of many Medicaid recipients.
Carla Becker said Medicaid has been instrumental in allowing her to advocate for her daughter, Willow. Adopted from foster care, Willow remains eligible for the medical portion of Forward Health, which Becker said has allowed her to get the care Willow needs to address multiple medical issues.
"It seems like the amount of money being spent on something that's not health care, in my opinion, seems like waste, fraud and abuse," Becker said of the proposed reporting requirements.
Brianna Pearson said her autistic son is on a children's waiver through children's long-term care, and she doesn't know what she would do if it was cut. She is also a peer support specialist with indiGO in Superior and talked about the potential impact on the people she serves.
"It would not only affect their coverages," Pearson said. "It would affect the supports they get from long-term care like IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct) and Inclusa, which are a lot of the consumers I work with."
Baldwin said understanding Medicaid is a challenge because it goes by so many names, including BadgerCare, Katie Beckett for children, IRIS for adults and Family Care in Wisconsin, and MNCare in Minnesota.
Dawn Becerra, 68, said many don't realize the "trickle down" supports provided by Medicaid. She has been caring for her mother with dementia for five years. She said without programs like Endeavors Adult Development Center in Balsam Lake, she and her husband wouldn't be able to get out together because someone has to be with her mother all the time. She said her mother's care at Endeavors is funded through the Aging and Disability Resource Center with Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Baldwin noted that health care facilities in rural parts of the state have already been closing, leaving communities with little or no health care readily available.
"We know that critical access hospitals that serve rural communities are on the brink," the congresswoman said. "They have very low margins. We know that skilled nursing facilities that serve out seniors, over half of which rely on Medicaid ... are on the brink."
If Medicaid cuts do go through, Homan said Lake Superior Community Health Care would continue to provide care irrespective of ability to pay. But an increase in uninsured patients would have a financial impact on the organization, the CEO said.
Tiffany said millions of Medicaid recipients are able-bodied adults but choose not to work. People who are in the U.S. illegally are also benefiting from the program, he argues.
"There are hundreds of billions of dollars going out in Medicaid benefits to people like that — this is not how the program was originally created," he said.