By Tim Gaynor
PEORIA, Ariz.(Reuters) - A pacemaker and
defibrillator fitted to carpenter Douglas Gravagna's failing
heart makes even rising from the couch of his Phoenix-valley
home a battle.
But it is not congestive heart failure that is killing him,
he says. It is a decision by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to
stop funding for some organ transplants as the state struggles
to reduce a yawning budget deficit.
"She's signing death warrants -- that's what she's doing.
This is death for me," says Gravagna, 44, a heavy-set man who
takes 14 medications to stay alive.
Gravagna is among 98 people denied state Medicaid funding
for potentially life-saving transplants and at the forefront of
a harrowing battle over the state's public finances.
The measure enacted last October by Brewer trimmed spending
on Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program, to
help close a projected 2012 budget deficit of $1.15 billion.
It eliminated coverage for transplants including lung,
heart, liver and bone marrow after weighing the success and
survival rates for certain transplant procedures.
Two patients on the Medicaid waiting list have since died,
although it is unclear if transplants would have saved them.
In a statewide speech, the Republican governor singled out
the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, as the
Medicaid program is called in the desert state, as the greatest
drain on state coffers.
"At the deficit's core is the explosive growth in Medicaid
spending which, over the last four years, has soared by almost
65 percent and now consumes 29 percent of our state budget,"
she said.
"If we are to regain control of state spending, we must
reform Medicaid and free Arizona from the fiscal manipulation
of the federal government," Brewer said.
CUTTING RATES TO PROVIDERS
Medicaid, which covers about 60 million Americans -- poor
adults and children, people who are elderly or have
disabilities -- is one of the top expenses for states.
It makes up about 16 percent of state budgets, said Judith
Solomon at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It pays
for more than 40 percent of all births in the United States and
is the primary bill-payer for nearly two-thirds of the
country's nursing home residents, according to the Kaiser
Family Foundation.
In Texas the proposed budget would cut rates to Medicaid
providers, including doctors, dentists, hospitals and nursing
homes, by 10 percent, making it more difficult for patients to
find healthcare providers who accept Medicaid.
Other states, among them Nevada, Illinois, Mississippi,
Nebraska, Colorado and South Dakota, have also proposed
provider rate cuts.
Proposed cuts range from limiting prescription and doctor
visits in California to eliminating adult vision and dental
services in Georgia, the center says.
Brewer has proposed dropping about 250,000 Arizonans --
mostly childless adults -- from the program.
Most states are not proposing to trim Medicaid rolls
because the new federal health reform law requires that they
maintain current Medicaid coverage.
But the U.S. Health and Human Services Department has said
Arizona can drop coverage because the state is providing it
through a temporary waiver, and the new law does not require
extending that.
'OTHER PLACES TO MAKE CUTS'
Taking an ax to transplant funding is backed by many
Republicans in Arizona, some of who sympathize with Brewer.
"It's a very difficult unenviable position to be in for
her," said Kathy Boatman, a conservative Tea Party activist in
the Phoenix valley. "It's not fun, it's unpleasant, but when
expenses have outpaced income, that's what you have to do."
But opponents, including state Democrats, the families of
desperately sick patients like Gravagna and some doctors say
savings can be made without putting lives on the line.
"There are other places to make cuts. We've cut taxes on
the very rich, we have corporate tax loopholes," said Bruce
Madison, a doctor who spoke at a rally to restore transplant
funding in Phoenix Saturday.
Madison received a life-saving heart transplant six years
ago.
State Representative Anna Tovar, a Democrat and former
kindergarten teacher, received two transplants to combat a rare
form of leukemia. She says Arizona stands to lose more than $3
million a year in federal matching funds for Medicaid to save
$1.4 million a year by restricting transplants.
"When you look at the big scheme of things, saving $1.4
million for 96 lives is not money well spent," said Tovar, who
has introduced four bills seeking to restore Medicaid funding
for transplants.
As he grows sicker after being denied a liver transplant
last year, Francisco Felix, 32, says any savings from denying
him the operation are in some measure a false economy.
"If I got a transplant, I could get back to work ... pay my
taxes, and help Arizona to get back on its feet," he said at
the rally.
(Additional reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Xavier
Briand)
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