« Diabetes Drug May Aid Psoriasis Control | Home | New Treatments Ease Suffering During Summer Allergy Season »
States consider reducing drug help for seniors as a cost-cutting measure.
By jeremyc | May 28, 2009
The AP (5/28, Henry) reports, “The financial crisis has grown so severe that lawmakers in Rhode Island and five other states have debated whether to cut or reduce the state funding that helps seniors and disabled people…buy their drugs.” For example, cuts in “the program in Rhode Island would save about $700,000 and affect around 8,000 people, while a proposal to scale back benefits in South Carolina would have trimmed roughly $7 million.” However, the AP adds that the “savings aren’t huge: they amount to less than 1 percent of the total budget in both states.” And while “Vermont’s governor proposed eliminating the funding this year,” the state’s “lawmakers instead instituted co-payments that cost recipients $1 or $2.” New York and Connecticut also “rejected plans to curtail assistance, while Massachusetts has scaled back co-payment assistance for its seniors.”
Topics: | Uncategorized |
Comments are closed.
