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- Norma Vescovo,
CEO, Independent Living Center of So. Cal. - cell 818-389-9079 -
Gerald Shapiro, Pharm.D, owner of Uptown Pharmacy, -- 213-612-4300 -
Michael Lyon, of Gray Panthers of San Francisco, -- cell 415-215-7575 -
Joan B. Lee, of Gray Panthers of Sacramento, -- 916-474-9962 -
Margaret Dowling, -- paraplegic Medi-Cal recipient, healthcare leader, and
healthcare radio talk show host, of Pittsburg, -- 925-427-1219 -
Mark Beckwith, -- paraplegic Medi-Cal recipient, of Berkeley, -- 510-841-6406,
except, important, do not call except until after 3 p.m. -
Lynn Rolston, -- CEO of California Pharmacists Association, -- (office)
916-779-1400, Extension 40; or, (cell) 916-425-0010 -
Thu-Hang Tran, Pharm.D., -- President, Vietnamese American Pharmacy Association,
-- (cell) 714-251-0673 -
Stanley L. Friedman, -- co-counsel for plaintiffs, -- 213-629-1500 -
Lynn S. Carman, -- co-counsel for plaintiffs -- 415-927-4023
The largest
California independent living center, two Southland pharmacies, and two Medi-Cal
and SSI/SSP recipients sued Medi-Cal yesterday (April 21, 2008) in Los Angeles
Superior Court, to set aside (1) the Legislature's 10% across-the-board cut in
payments to Medi-Cal providers, and (2) the theft by the Legislature of four
months of the state's share of COLA payments to poor SSI/SSP recipients.
-- The 10% Medi-Cal
cut goes into effect on July 1, 2008.
-- The cessation of four monthly COLA payments starts June 1, 2008. Plaintiffs
in the suit that the 10% Medi-Cal cut and the taking by the State of four months
of their COLA cost-of-living increase in their monthly benefit, will not only
cause (1) thousands more Medi-Cal recipients to be unable to find doctors,
dentists, and pharmacies willing to serve them, and (2) cause all SSI/SSP
recipients to lose four months of their cost-of-living (COLA) benefit increase,
but that all of this, taken together, will cause many deaths among the
home-bound Medi-Cal recipients who rely on, and will be deprived of,
home-delivered prescriptions; and, will cause in any event, thousands of frail,
elderly, disabled recipients of Medi-Cal and SSI/SSP benefits, to be forced into
nursing homes just to be able to survive. The
suit also charges that health care cuts violate the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act, because the overall effect of the cuts will be to force
thousands of persons with disabilities to give up living independently, and
force them into institutions such as nursing homes, in order to survive, -- even
though, say the plaintiffs, the State has sufficient funds and funding sources
to maintain the present level of Medi-Cal and SSI-SSP payments, without the 10%
Medi-Cal cut or the taking of four months of COLAs of SSI-SSP recipients. Plaintiffs
say in their suit that: -Most
doctors and dentists already do not take Medi-Cal patients because Medi-Cal
Payment is too low, so that the new 10% cut will cause thousands more to stop
taking Medi-Cal patients. -Hundreds
of independent pharmacies, -- such as the Uptown Pharmacy in Los Angeles who
deliver to thousands of elderly home-bound Medi-Cal recipients, -- will be
forced out of business, or will have to stop serving Medi-Cal patients, if this
10% cut goes into effect. (Pharmacies, plaintiffs say, already earn less
than 10% net profit, so that the 10% cut would force them to serve Medi-Cal
patients at a loss.) But
worst of all, they say, is that thousands of Medi-Cal recipients will either die
or be forced into nursing homes or other institutions, just in order to survive,
due to the cumulative effect of these healthcare cuts, if they go into effect. Lynn
S. Carman
Chief Counsel
Medicaid Defense Fund
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