Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Parents Of Disabled Children Press N.C. Officials To Reconsider Cuts To Medicaid Services
About 2,200 to 2,300 kids in North Carolina are medically fragile, like Lydia Nell, and qualify for [Community Alternatives Program for Children]. Usually, Medicaid caps the amount of money a family can make to qualify for the program. But for families like the Nells, the federal government allows a waiver to the usual Medicaid rules. Last year, North Carolina鈥檚 federal waiver needed to be renewed. But the plan DHHS unveiled in April set off alarm bells: Service hours for families were slashed, among other changes. ... The outcry forced DHHS to announce in May that they would rework the waiver application. (Hoban, 7/28)
It鈥檚 not until the final two stages of liver damage that needy Coloradans with the blood-borne hepatitis C virus get access to a life-saving drug with a 90-percent cure rate and an exorbitant price tag. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to be on death鈥檚 door before they will treat you,鈥 said David Higginbotham, a Colorado Medicaid beneficiary who contracted the virus 35 years ago while working as a hospital surgical tech. ... Now pressure for change is increasing against the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which has restricted access to the breakthrough drug due to its cost. (Brown, 7/29)
