This Is Very, Very Important - Please Read This Carefully

[tex]

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal brought this to my attention, and I think that everyone should be aware of this, not only for yourselves, but also so that you can advise your friends and relatives. This concerns a legal loophole that can prevent otherwise qualified candidates in the U. S., who are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, from receiving the care and treatment that they need, in order to save their lifes.

Under federal law, uninsured women under the age of 65, who are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, can have their treatment covered by Medicaid, even if they don't meet all of its eligibility requirements. This law was passed in 2000, but few people seem to be aware of it. Unfortunately, Congress chose to include an option in the law that allows the states to choose to provide coverage to all comers, (IOW, at all institutions), or to limit coverage to only those who are diagnosed at clinics that get funding from a federal cancer detection program.

In those states that chose the more restrictive option, if a woman is diagnosed at an institution that is not included in the program, she is automatically denied Medicaid coverage. If you are in one of those states, and you are uninsured, or underinsured, please, please, please be sure to do your homework before you go to a clinic where you might be diagnosed with either breast or cervical cancer. And please advise your friends and/or relatives who might be in this situation. Once a diagnosis is handed down, it is too late to switch clinics - the state will deny Medicaid coverage, and the hospital will probably deny treatment, (except for life-threatening issues, IOW, emergency room procedures).

Here is a list of the states where this cruel legal loophole applies:

New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. All other states allow Medicaid coverage regardless of where a patient is diagnosed.

The September 13, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal has a very sad front-page article about a woman in Texas who was caught by this trap, and it cost her years of misery and anxiety, and eventually, her life. After cancer activist groups took up the cause, and lobbied the Texas legislature, the law was changed in Texas, as of September 1, so that all women in Texas are now covered, regardless of where they might be diagnosed.

Again, if you are living in one of the states listed, where coverage is restricted, and you are undergoing tests that might result in a diagnosis of either breast or cervical cancer, be very, very sure that the clinic, (or other health care provider that you select), gets funding from a federal cancer-detection program, unless you are confident that your current insurance will pay all costs, in the event that you are diagnosed. Remember, once a diagnosis is issued, it's too late to switch clinics.

Tex