Thursday, June 30, 2005

Survey Shows Strong Support for Medicaid Newsday story - "The public's attitude toward Medicaid remains positive despite the big impact the program is having on state budgets and lawmakers' frequent calls for reform, an opinion survey released Wednesday shows. Nearly three-quarters of adults say the nation's health insurance program for the poor is a "very important" government program, ranking it close to Social Security (88 percent) and Medicare (83 percent), equal to aid to public schools, and ahead of defense (57 percent) and foreign aid (20 percent)." See also National Survey of the Public's Views About Medicaid at the Kaiser Family Foundation web site.  
  

Mental-health drug wrangling raising anxiety (Florida) Story at the Daytona Beach News-Journal - "Faced with soaring drug costs, Florida officials have toyed for years with restricting mental-health drugs for Medicaid patients. But now, as the state starts to move forward with the controversial idea, a dispute with one of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies is helping stoke fears that the restrictions could disrupt the treatment of low-income people with severe mental illnesses..." See also Critics decry plan to limit prescription drugs on Medicaid (Sun-Sentinel), State criticizes drug maker for avoiding discount deal (Miami Herald), Medicaid Changes May Be Costly, Some Claim (The Ledger) and State raps Eli Lilly for attacks on drug plan (Palm Beach Post).