Derby City Area Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
The Derby City Area Chapter of the N.S.C.I.A. is a membership organization for individuals with spinal cord injuries, their families, and health professionals. Founded in 1984 as a Charter Member of the N.S.C.I.A., it was incorporated under IRS Section 501 (c) 3 as a not for profit organization. The Board of Directors consists of the Officers, Past President and the Board Members At Large.
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OFFICERS
PRESIDENT David Allgood - (502) 589-6620
VICE PRESIDENT Adam Ford - (502) 425-2206
TREASURER Tom Stokes- (502) 957-5865
LIAISON TO FRAZIER INSTITUTE Dr. Bill Kraft – (502) 582-5865
FUNDRAISING CHAIR Betty Perry—(502) 647-0368
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY/WEB MASTER Michael Feger- (502) 647-0368
decline to pay it, providers cannot withhold care.
The governors say the rules have not been updated since 1982 and prevent Medicaid from utilizing the kind of market forces that promote personal responsibility. They promise that any change will limit co-payments to no more that 5 percent of a recipient's income.
Huckabee insists that an overwhelming number of Medicaid recipients want to pay something for the care they receive, saying such cost-sharing was well received by participants in his state's separate health insurance program for children. All states have such federally subsidized programs for children from families with incomes that are too great for Medicaid but not enough for private insurance.
Liberal groups maintain that it's not fair to compare the Medicaid population to the children's health insurance population. Medicaid enrollees often are in poorer health and have much lower incomes, so low that even nominal increases become extraordinary barriers, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in one report.
Huckabee said the groups predicting a health care disaster for the poor because of a greater cost-sharing are the same groups that predicted welfare reforms would result in long bread lines.
"I sometimes have a problem with wealthy people telling me what it's like to be poor," the governor said. A study in this month's Health Affairs, a health policy journal, showed Medicaid recipients dropping out of the program when premiums and co-pays were increased in Oregon two years ago.
Oregon enacted monthly premiums of $6 to $20 for couples in the program and co-pays of $5 for a doctor's visit and $50 for an emergency room visit. Strict rules were put in place to lock out for six months those who missed a monthly payment.
The program's rolls dropped from about 89,000 to about 48,000. Researchers said that about half the drop could be attributed to the higher fees. Those who dropped out for reasons unrelated to cost-sharing mainly had earned wages that disqualified them from the program.
"Although some proponents of cost sharing argue that even the very poor can pay a few dollars a month in premiums, our findings suggest otherwise," the researchers said.
Democrats and some Republicans in Congress oppose more cost-sharing, though they note that they support some of the other recommendations from the governors, such as reducing what states pay for prescription drug
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