Potentially painful Medicaid cuts proved too painful Monday for members of the Joint Finance Committee, who overwhelmingly rejected Gov. Jack Markell's effort to rein in costs by reducing benefits in the health insurance program for the poor.
The budget-writing panel voted 8-4 to restore $5 million to the $589 million program, rejecting proposals to limit Medicaid recipients to three trips to the emergency room each year, implement co-pays for visits to doctors or therapists, and temporarily cut payments to physicians and radiological services.
Sen. Brian Bushweller, D-Dover, labeled the administration's proposed cuts and possible alternatives as "arbitrary" measures that would hurt hospitals.
"None of these plans actually reduce emergency room costs. They shift the cost from the state to the providers," he said.
The committee's 8-4 vote to reject the cost cuts was accompanied by a separate proposal to set up a task force to study ways to cut Medicaid costs without harming delivery of services or placing an undue financial burden on patients or health care providers.
Every time i am in line at the pharmacy in Sussex County, there is at least one young woman speaking Spanish in line in front of me getting prescriptions for 50c.
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