The myths about Medicaid need to be dispelled

Medicaid has become the source of much misinformation and myth as many, including some lawmakers, label recipients as young, able-bodied deadbeats who refuse to work, spend all of their time in bingo establishments and use Medicaid money to buy groceries.

As a specialist who deals daily with Medicaid's real-life situations, I wish to dispel some common myths by providing the facts.

Approximately 70 percent of Medicaid expenditures go for disabled and elderly people who in most cases have been hard -working citizens. The unemployed poor account for a much smaller portion of Medicaid expenses.

Long-term care and acute care, which includes inpatient hospital care and prescription drug costs, account for 90 percent of Medicaid dollars.

Food stamps are not part of the Medicaid program, nor does Medicaid provide welfare checks. Medicaid does not pay for food or anything else other than health care-related expenses.

Most disabled people want to work, and many do work part-time. Others find themselves caught in what I call the "medicine gap."

For example, people with Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, or cerebral palsy require prescription drugs costing up to $20,000 a year. If their income is more than $8,134.50 a year, they must either pay a spend-down or lose Medicaid benefits, including prescription drug benefits. Do the math on this, and you will see what I mean by the medicine gap. Try fitting rent and food into that scenario.

How many people, disabled or not, could afford this, considering the average income for a single person in Missouri is $20,000 a year?

Consider also that because of your disability, employers will be reluctant to hire you, and insurance companies will not cover you.

Missouri did have a program that allowed disabled people to work part-time and still be covered by Medicaid. Unfortunately, this program was flawed and allowed some abuses. Rather than fixing the program, Missouri lawmakers elected to scrap it, forcing many disabled people to give up part-time jobs in order to keep life-sustaining medicines.

When the military was caught spending $10,000 on toilet seat covers, did Congress stop funding for our defense, or did it use common sense and fix the problem?

The same legislation cut the threshold for Medicaid eligibility to 85 percent of poverty level, tossing more prescription drug users off the roles. Starting in January, the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program should cover most of those who lost medicine benefits. However, a four-month gap exists during which many will have no coverage. Do we expect those who have Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases to put their diseases on hold until next year? Lives are at risk here.

I rarely encounter the legendary frequenters of the bingo hall so often touted by Medicaid critics. I see many people like one wonderful disabled Missourian in Perryville, Mo., who has multiple sclerosis but continues to strive for a hopeful future. After serving in the military during Operation Desert Storm, she worked as a civilian technician. Now she lives on $617-a-month disability unable to work full-time. Her drug bill paid for by Medicaid is $1,500 a month, which is more than double her income. Recently she wanted to start a home-based business selling herbs and homemade soap to earn a couple of hundred dollars a month. With the new legislation, she cannot do this without the risk of losing her medication benefits or having to use most of her earnings to pay a spend-down.

God willing, most of us will grow older. In the process, some of us will certainly become disabled through no fault of our own. Others are born with disabilities. As one who works daily with people who are disabled, it pains me greatly to hear insensitive and uncaring rhetoric from the mouths of the uninformed.

It is equally sad to think that our lawmakers so hastily craft or discard legislation that so greatly affects the right of these people to live independently with dignity and productively. In the 21st century may God give our citizens and lawmakers the wisdom and compassion to think beyond the leper colony.

Sandy Cato is the benefits specialist for SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence in Cape Girardeau.