Pediatricians
Say Florida Hurt Sick Kids To Help Big GOP Donors
St.
Augustine, Florida (CNN) “When he was 11 years old, LJ Stroud of
St. Augustine, Florida, had a tooth emerge in a place where no tooth belongs:
the roof of his mouth.
LJ was born with severe cleft lip
and palate, which explained the strange eruption, as well as the constant ear
infections that no antibiotic could remedy.
With her son in terrible pain,
Meredith Stroud arranged for surgeries to fix his problems.
But just days before the procedures
were to take place, the surgeons' office called to cancel them.
Like nearly half of all children in
Florida, LJ is on Medicaid, which has several types of insurance plans. The
state had switched LJ to a new plan, and his surgeons didn't take it.
LJ wasn't alone. In the spring and summer
of 2015, the state switched more than 13,000 children out of a highly respected
program called Children's Medical Services, or CMS, a part of Florida Medicaid.
Children on this plan have serious health problems including birth defects,
heart disease, diabetes and blindness.
The state moved the children to
other Medicaid insurance plans that don't specialize in caring for very sick
children……
……..First, the data analysis the
state used to justify switching the children is "inaccurate" and
"bizarre," according to the researcher who wrote the software used in
that analysis.
Second, the screening tool the state
used to select which children would be kicked off the program has been called
"completely invalid" and "a perversion of science" by top
experts in children with special health care needs.
Third, in fall 2015, a state
administrative law judge ruled that the Department of Health should stop using
the screening tool because it was unlawful. However, even after the judge
issued his decision, the department didn't automatically re-enroll the children
or even reach out to the families directly to let them know that re-enrollment
was a possibility.
Finally, parents and Florida
pediatricians raise questions about the true reasons why Florida's Republican
administration switched the children's health plans. They question whether it
was to financially reward insurance companies that had donated millions of
dollars to the Republican Party of Florida.”
Read the entire story here http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/18/health/florida-sick-kids-insurance-eprise/index.html
2018 elections will quickly be upon
us. Don’t be shy. Speak up! Let your voices be heard. To many voters, it
seems that ‘Life Is Precious Until It’s Sick or Hungry or Has No Place To Live’. It’s time to share reality and this article with
them.
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