Editorial: More burdens for the poor

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

Nevada lawmakers who want to cut Medicaid costs are considering charging copayments for the first time in the 40-year history of the program, while increasing reimbursements for physicians and pharmacies.

Congress also is considering copayments for Medicaid recipients as part of a cost-cutting plan approved Tuesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That measure, which would impose the payments on the poor, elderly and disabled who use the program, is designed to cut Medicaid spending by about $11 billion by the end of the decade. It also allows states to scale back coverage.

In Nevada, a legislative panel on Tuesday decided to study requiring copayments from more than 173,000 disabled and poor Medicaid recipients who now obtain medical care and prescription drugs for free.

Staffers for Gov. Kenny Guinn have said Nevada's poorest Medicaid recipients would continue receiving free care. But Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, a member of the Legislative Committee on Health Care, said the state already ranks last nationally in per capita Medicaid spending. She fears copayments could discourage families from seeking medical care until they need emergency room treatment, which is more expensive than preventive care.

The Nevada panel's study also will consider whether to raise the rates paid to medical care providers, some of whom are reluctant to treat poor people because of low reimbursements. The Nevada Legislature already approved raising pharmacy reimbursement rates by 12.1 percent this fiscal year and 11.7 percent in the next.

Those who provide low-cost or no-cost medical care should be fairly reimbursed for their work. But it is unfortunate that in a country as wealthy as the United States we would consider placing that burden on the backs of poor, elderly and disabled people who are sick. If it's money the government needs, it first should consider rescinding some of the generous tax cuts the Bush administration has handed to large corporations and the wealthiest Americans.