http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/arizona-budget-cuts-organ-transplants_n_785107.html Arizona Budget Cuts Kill Money For Organ Transplants For some Arizona residents, the massive fiscal crisis gripping their state and others has put their lives at risk, NPR reports. Thanks to a $1.5-billion budget deficit, Arizona has had to make some tough choices, including cuts to certain liver and heart transplants paid for by the state, according to NPR. Last spring, Arizona's GOP-led legislature instituted the cuts to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's version of Medicaid. Sacrificing the life-saving procedures saves the state an estimated $4.5 million annually, or 0.3 percent of its present deficit. In some cases, the state has chose to deny coverage for procedures that were already approved. Phoenix's KPHO 5, a CBS affiliate, reports that Francisco Felix, a Phoenix-area resident who is suffering from Hepatitis C, was actually in a hospital surgery room when doctors informed him that his liver transplant wouldn't be approved. A family friend donated the liver Felix was set to receive, but his family is unable to come up with the $200,000 needed to pay for the procedure. Francisco's wife Flor told KPHO: "The liver is gone because we don't have the money. That's why we lost this opportunity. But we have hope that something good is going to come." In October, the Associated Press reported that Phoenix's Mark Price, a former armored-truck delivery worker, was likewise refused the life-saving bone marrow operation he needed. "We need to save lives and knowing the funding is not there for me -- it's pretty hard to deal with," he told the AP. But the cuts don't stop there. The AP noted last month that Arizona has cut "coverage for occupational and speech therapy, insulin pumps, hearing aids and emergency dental care" and "funding for wellness exams, but mammograms, pap smears and colonoscopies remain covered." Arizona has seen dramatic cutbacks in a host of social services. In Mesa, the state's largest school district had its budget slashed by as much as $65 million, which could amount to a 15 to 20 percent hit to its operating budget, the East Valley Tribune notes.
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Bill Gates said there was a âlack of willingnessâ to consider the question of choosing between âspending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patientâ or laying off ten teachers.
Of course death panels save money,but he is not an elected official Krugman is an economist saying death panels save money,while Republican elected officials in Arizona are practicing it
This is what happens when you leave this crap up to the state/government to run. Why this comes as a shock to you or anyone else is beyond me. Do you support what they are doing or not?
It cant be left to insurance companies ,they wont insure those needing transplants due to the pre existing condition clauses.There's also lifetime policy maximums,trying every trick possible to deny a claim etc for those needing transplants I support single payor
Yes, but with single payer you'll end up with the very thing your bitching about here. Why is that so hard to see? You just posted an article highlighting the problems yet at the same time live in the fantasy world that when the state takes it over, all these problems vanish.
Its Arizona's Republican Governor and other Republican elected officials who are responsible for taking away the funding for those peoples transplants