I'm mostly a lurker on the forum. Obviously, I am very passionate about this issue and the protection of baby boys. I am frustrated by the scenario below, and I knew I could share here and you'd all understand. It's like banging your head against a wall.
I wrote my governor a letter about Medicaid and coverage of RIC. What prompted it was a large amount of lay-offs of state employees, that he (Gov) approved a couple of months ago, due to "state budget crisis". They laid off, among many others, 20 state troopers, one of whom is a good friend. I really felt this was wrong and could have been avoided.
So I wrote a letter (I don't have it-it was email through their website, so I'm paraphrasing) stating my concerns that, in a budget crisis when numerous cuts have been made (including cuts to services covered by Medicaid, such as chiropractic), that the state would continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a procedure that is not recommended by the AAP, AAFP, etc. I pointed out that 16 other states had made the decision to eliminate coverage of this procedure and said that I felt given the current "economic crisis" that our state is facing, I thought they should consider eliminating such procedures as covered ones. I made it very clear that I was only speaking of routine infant circs and not "medically necessary" ones. (Baby steps). Lastly, I pointed out that if this ONE procedure alone was eliminated they could perhaps re-allocate that money to preserve even a few of the jobs they eliminated. I couldn't find figures on how much they spent on this each year, but I included stats from other states.
I thought it was a very well worded letter. I forgot about it until I received my reply a couple days ago, via USPS. It was a personally written, two page letter. I don't have time to copy it word for word (but intend to scan a copy and will share when I do, if it's not against TOS) but essentially, I was told that Iowa Medicaid has always covered circs so they saw no reason to stop. Just because groups like the AAP don't recommend RIC, doesn't mean that all medical professionals agree with that view.
The letter said that they were (paraphrasing again) committed to providing as much coverage as possible to Iowa Medicaid recipients, even during times of financial crisis, and they didn't see it fit to reduce covered services. (but they did, they eliminated several covered services. I read the official documents, which is what prompted me to write the letter). They also included a table, which gave the amount that the state spent on circs for FY 06 to FY 09. The state share was in the neighborhood of $500k for FY 09. The total, including federal shares was $1.1 million. In this state alone. I am disgusted.
While I'm impressed that someone obviously took quite a bit of time to compose this letter, it's abysmal that they thought the "we've always done it, so we're going to keep doing it" argument was even close to sufficient. They didn't back up their position with any data. Just "some doctors think it's OK"
*sigh*
I wrote my governor a letter about Medicaid and coverage of RIC. What prompted it was a large amount of lay-offs of state employees, that he (Gov) approved a couple of months ago, due to "state budget crisis". They laid off, among many others, 20 state troopers, one of whom is a good friend. I really felt this was wrong and could have been avoided.
So I wrote a letter (I don't have it-it was email through their website, so I'm paraphrasing) stating my concerns that, in a budget crisis when numerous cuts have been made (including cuts to services covered by Medicaid, such as chiropractic), that the state would continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a procedure that is not recommended by the AAP, AAFP, etc. I pointed out that 16 other states had made the decision to eliminate coverage of this procedure and said that I felt given the current "economic crisis" that our state is facing, I thought they should consider eliminating such procedures as covered ones. I made it very clear that I was only speaking of routine infant circs and not "medically necessary" ones. (Baby steps). Lastly, I pointed out that if this ONE procedure alone was eliminated they could perhaps re-allocate that money to preserve even a few of the jobs they eliminated. I couldn't find figures on how much they spent on this each year, but I included stats from other states.
I thought it was a very well worded letter. I forgot about it until I received my reply a couple days ago, via USPS. It was a personally written, two page letter. I don't have time to copy it word for word (but intend to scan a copy and will share when I do, if it's not against TOS) but essentially, I was told that Iowa Medicaid has always covered circs so they saw no reason to stop. Just because groups like the AAP don't recommend RIC, doesn't mean that all medical professionals agree with that view.
The letter said that they were (paraphrasing again) committed to providing as much coverage as possible to Iowa Medicaid recipients, even during times of financial crisis, and they didn't see it fit to reduce covered services. (but they did, they eliminated several covered services. I read the official documents, which is what prompted me to write the letter). They also included a table, which gave the amount that the state spent on circs for FY 06 to FY 09. The state share was in the neighborhood of $500k for FY 09. The total, including federal shares was $1.1 million. In this state alone. I am disgusted.
While I'm impressed that someone obviously took quite a bit of time to compose this letter, it's abysmal that they thought the "we've always done it, so we're going to keep doing it" argument was even close to sufficient. They didn't back up their position with any data. Just "some doctors think it's OK"
*sigh*
