« Ind. Decisions - In Illinois case, 7th Circuit rules that church cemetary will not stand in the way of airport expansion | Main | Ind. Courts - "Hammond lawyer arrested for intoxication in court" »

Friday, September 14, 2007

Ind. Gov't. - "Loophole Allows States To Avoid Covering Breast, Cervical Cancer Treatments for Some Uninsured Women"

A troubling story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal yesterday, as reported here in the ABA Journal:

A little-known federal law entitles breast and ovarian cancer patients under age 65 to Medicare treatment, even if they wouldn't normally qualify for the federally funded health care program for the indigent.

But in a number of states only some health care centers qualify for Medicare reimbursement under the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act. That means it can be crucial to patients to seek treatment initially at a facility that receives federal funding for a cancer-detection program, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).

The Wall Street Journal lists 21 states "where uninsured women with breast or cervical cancer are denied Medicaid coverage if they wern't diagnosed at the right clinic. The list includes Indiana.

From the Kaiser Network:

A legal loophole in the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act allows states to not cover some uninsured women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer in their Medicaid programs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the law, enacted in 2000, uninsured women younger than age 65 diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer can have their treatments covered by Medicaid, even if they are not otherwise eligible for coverage.

According to the Journal, the law allows states to choose to cover only women diagnosed at clinics that receive funding from a federal cancer-detection program. Twenty-one states do not cover treatment costs for women diagnosed at facilities that do not participate in the federal cancer-detection program, and Texas only began providing coverage for women diagnosed at any health provider on Sept. 1. According to the Journal, "thousands" of women annually "get caught" in the loophole, which "can turn the quest for care into a daunting obstacle course."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 14, 2007 07:43 AM
Posted to Indiana Government