AHCCCS Transplant funds restored, at a high cost to others.

"The dying are taxpayers, too."
AZ State Capitol/Wes Bolin Plaza
February 28, 2011

http://www.azahcccs.gov/shared/Downloads/News/MedicaidReformPlan.pdf

Under the plan that restored these cuts, over a hundred fifty thousand "childless adults" in AZwon't receive AHCCCS coverage when they get ill, "saving" the state $190 million. Folks whose medical bills reduce their spendable income to less than 40% of the federal poverty rate are also screwed ("saving" the rest of us $70 m).

Not only do we lose federal funds for health care now, but it's guaranteed that we'll be spending more than twice as much incarcerating the mentally ill patients who lose their benefits and can no longer obtain the medications or treatment they need when they decompensate - because the people who voted for this woman are much more willing to spend their taxes on prisons (which so many profit from) than health care for the poor...no wonder we have one mentally ill person in our hospitals for every ten we decide top incarcerate, with little or no care.

That's appalling.

Give my Taxes to AHCCCS!

Thanks a lot, Brewer. You're a real swell human being.

----------------

Janice K. Brewer, Governor
Thomas J. Betlach, Director
801 East Jefferson, Phoenix, AZ 85034
PO Box 25520, Phoenix, AZ 85002
Phone: 602-417-4000

AHCCCS
www.azahcccs.gov
Our first care is your health care

ARIZONA HEALTH CARE COST CONTAINMENT SYSTEM
DATE: April 7, 2011

TO: Interested Stakeholders
FROM: Marc Leib, MD, Chief Medical Officer

SUBJECT: Transplant Restoration

AHCCCS RESTORES COVERAGE OF PREVIOUSLY COVERED TRANSPLANTS FOR ADULTS

As part of the recently enacted budget, the Arizona Legislature adopted Governor Brewer's Medicaid Reform Plan which restores funding of previously covered transplants for adults that were eliminated effective October 1, 2010. Retroactive to April 1, 2011, AHCCCS will once again cover the following transplants for members 21 years of age and older:
•
Pancreas-after-kidney transplants
•
Liver transplants in patients with Hepatitis C
•
Allogeneic unrelated hematopoietic cell transplants
•
Heart transplants in patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathies
•
Lung transplants
•
Heart-lung transplants

Transplants that were not covered by AHCCCS prior to October 1, 2010, including pancreas only transplants, partial pancreas transplants and pancreas islet cell transplants, are not affected by this legislation. Those transplants remain non-covered. In addition to the medically necessary transplants covered for adults, AHCCCS continues to cover all medically necessary, non experimental transplants for members under the age of 21 years as required by EPSDT.

Coverage criteria for restored transplants will be the same as the criteria in place prior to October 1, 2010. Physicians with patients they believe meet the criteria for any AHCCCS covered transplant should contact the AHCCCS health plan in which the patient is enrolled to refer the patient for transplant evaluation.

For more information, please see the AHCCCS website at:

http://www.azahcccs.gov/reporting/legislation/sessions/2010/BenefitChanges.aspx#transplantRestoration

Arizona's criminalization of kindness.

AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: February, 2011.

Yesterday the legislature found $5 million for "border security" in a non-border county while still maintaining that we don't have the $1.4 million necessary to restore AHCCCS transplant funding this year. Even the Arizona Republic is appalled - and that's saying a lot. People like Pearce and Kavanagh have been leading the citizens of this state to a collective spiritual death like pied pipers for too long; it's not the "criminal aliens" we have to fear - it's the home-grown terrorists we put into the legislature who endanger what is dear to us the most: our children. We are teaching them to justify cruelty to their fellow beings.


I can't comprehend the sheer brutality of the Arizona state legislature - when are the voters in this state going to wake up? Those people are hardly working in our people's best interests - if they're willing to kill Francisco Felix and coach Tiffany Tate because the chances we can save their lives don't make the expense worth it (according to Rep. John Kavanagh), they'll do the same to the rest of us when the time comes.

The dying are taxpayers too: AZ Families deserve AHCCCS.
AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: February, 2011.

The average citizen here may not be so ill-intended, but they're following their leaders like sheep these days - some with great enthusiasm, in fact - and it's having devastating consequences. The rest of the world is fighting for their freedom, while we're being ground down by more a oppressive government in Arizona at an alarming rate. The Tea Party is hardly about to protect us from tyrrany - they're not just innocent bystanders - they're among the chief perpetrators.


The claim "we can't afford it" when it comes to the People's needs holds no water in Arizona - the elite have effectively redirected resources from the poor to their own pockets through tax code changes and re-appropriations. There's plenty of money to expand the prison system, which we'll be needing to do soon since the state has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation, and it's not getting better. Push even the best families to desperation and cancel their kids' or mother's health insurance, and you'll find economic crime go up for sure. Fortunately, the relationship between crime and poverty works the other way, too.


Apparently the AZ legislature doesn't know or care about how to reduce crime, though - the concept of evidence-based practice in the criminal justice profession has about 20 more years of catching up to do in Arizona, as we do in the areas of public health and mental health services out here (we're incarcerating ten mentally ill people for every one we hospitalize for their psychiatric symptoms - and when we do that they tend to be even further neglected and abused). This regressive, repressive state is more about social control and punishing the poor and deviant (that's me) than ever, in fact - they seem to seek vengeance and power throguh of their exercises of "justice", not community-building, healing for victims, or societal transformation.

AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: February, 2011.

The average citizen here may not be so ill-intended, but they're following their leaders like sheep these days - some with great enthusiasm, in fact - and it's having devastating consequences. The rest of the world is fighting for their freedom, while we're being ground down by more a oppressive government in Arizona at an alarming rate. The Tea Party is hardly about to protect us from tyrrany - they're not just innocent bystanders - they're among the chief perpetrators.


Don't underestimate the power of racism, xenophobia, and fear to drive policy and funding priorities in this soul-sick place. All aid to people who can't provide documentation of their state-legitimized presence in Arizona is being criminalized at a rapid pace by Russ Pearce's Me Party Senate: from educators to health care providers to ordinary citizens, we're all expected to turn our Latino neighbors in as suspects for the police to clear before we extend a hand.


AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: March, 2011.


I can only imagine what a delightful bunch of kids Arizona's voting public is raising to lead us into the future. If you're a person of color here and in dire straits (or even just doing your job) look for Sheriff Joe's goons to come your way - and hope they don't mistakenly arrest you - or beat or kill you once you're taken prisoner. Give me an "anchor baby" from Mexico over a self-interested sociopath descended from Anglo immigrants any day - at least those children and their parents would have the courage to stop at the side of the road and help my family if we were in trouble...and they don't tend to grow up to be Nazis.

AZ State Senator Russell Pearce's son, Joshua, in a mugshot.
That's a neo-Nazi tattoo he sports...is it any wonder?

----------------------------

Arizona Senate Committee Wastes Time and Resources on Misguided Legislation
Wednesday, February 23 2011 14:03 Legislators target all Arizonans with six sweeping measures instead of addressing state’s real problems

Phoenix, Arizona--Yesterday, the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee passed sweeping legislation to put federal immigration enforcement photo6in the hands of K-12 schools, community colleges, universities, hospitals, motor vehicles, police, landlords, and business owners. The 12-hour hearing where the six related bills were discussed was packed with community organizations, health professionals, business leaders, faith leaders and others who voiced their strong opposition to the bills.

The bills were passed despite more than 20,000 emails sent to Appropriations Committee members from Arizonans outraged at these widespread attacks on our state in the four days leading up to the hearing.

The bills passed yesterday by the Committee include:

SB1611-- “Immigration Omnibus” or the “Throwing Arizona Under-the-Bus” bill –Sponsored by Senator Russell Pearce, this bill is a 30-page, measure requiring business owners, police officers, apartment renters, school employees, and others to verify citizenship, notify immigration and in some cases, failure to do so could result in loss of licenses, certification or imprisonment.

SB1308 and 1309 – “Eroding Children’s Futures and the Constitution” bills. Two bills introduced by Senator Ron Gould to create a new Arizona Citizenship that excludes children born to parents in the U.S. without immigration authorization. The bills are an attempt to ignite a national legal battle challenging the 14th amendment of the Constitution’s recognition of birthright citizenship.

SB1407 and 1141 – “Schools as Immigration Checkpoints” bills. Two bills introduced by Senator Steve Smith that would require K-12 schools to report on the immigration status of their students. Failure to comply would result in loss of funding.

SB1405 –“Turning Health Providers into Health Deniers” bill. This bill introduced by Senator Steve Smith would require hospital employees to verify the citizenship of people seeking emergency and non-emergency medical attention and to notify immigration agents if someone cannot prove they are authorized to be in the U.S.

The following is a statement from Border Action Network’s Executive Director, Jennifer Allen regarding yesterday’s passage of these sweeping measures:

“Despite the many legislators who campaigned against big government on their election soap boxes, the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee approved six bills yesterday that would result in big government prying eyes in hospitals, schools, community colleges, universities, motor vehicles, housing, and businesses.

These bills would negatively impact all Arizonans who drive or buy cars, rent apartments, hire employees, attend elementary school or community college, give birth, or get sick and seek medical attention. It’s ludicrous to think that if you want to share an apartment with a roommate or go to the hospital to give birth, you would have to prove your citizenship, but under these bills, such would be our state’s reality.

As Arizona’s $2 billion deficit continues to grow, the Committee responsible for appropriating our funds has approved increasing the cost burden on hospitals, schools, motor vehicles, cities and counties, and on business owners. These bills are a waste of our time, our money and our resources, and it’s time for our legislators to focus on making Arizona strong, and to implement the real solutions for our state and our children’s futures: health care, jobs, education and public safety.

Business owners, faith leaders, law enforcement, health care workers, school and university employees and everyday community members are speaking out and pushing back, and we will continue to put pressure on the legislature every step of the way until these bills are defeated. Only then can Arizonans be proud to have leaders that actually lead our state.”

###

Border Action Network formed in 1999 and works with immigrant and border communities in Arizona to ensure that our rights are respected, our human dignity upheld and that our communities are safe and healthy places to live. We are a membership-based organization that combines grassroots community organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy and litigation.

Brewercare is killing us! DREAM of LIFE Walk!!!

Saturday's DREAM of LIFE Walk for the surviving patients on the AHCCCS transplant list was amazing - these are my photos with a brief news piece from ABC15.com at the bottom. Here are the video clips.

Along those same lines, here's the article from Russ Pearce's Me Party Senate Appropriations Committee this week, which voted 8-5 to eliminate the MEDICAID for Arizonans altogether, so our friends awaiting transplants will soon have much more company among the people the state has decided to allow to withhold life-saving medical care for.

Ironically, no matter how ill or disabled a person is in this state, we still end up paying the government a hell of a lot through the very sales taxes that are supposed to be spent on the welfare of the people....and I want my taxes to go to AHCCCS before anyone else needlessly dies. I'm sick of the legislature extorting me for their salaries while they kill my people by pissing away my money on suing the feds over immigration and setting up committees to pick and choose which federal laws Arizona wants to nullify because they give too many people rights and health care and other essential things.

No wonder people are talking about seceeding from the state. What ignorant, self-righteous dolts we have running this show. If I knew it was that easy to nullify laws, I would have written my own constitution and criminal code a long time ago and told the feds and state where to go myself.



















































'Dream of Life Walk' aimed to raise awareness about AHCCCS funding cuts

ABC15.com
Posted: 5:55 PM
March 5, 2011


* By: Mike Pelton

PHOENIX - A Valley man who needs a new liver, along with dozens of others, marched to the state capitol Saturday, in hopes of raising awareness about the importance of funding the state’s Medicaid program, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).

Francisco Felix has cancer and needs a liver transplant. He is one of the 98 people who lost coverage when Governor Jan Brewer approved cuts to AHCCCS, a move that aimed to help solve the state’s massive budget deficit.

“We are asking for the funds for the transplants,” said Felix, whose cousin, Lulu translated for him.

People from all across the Valley gathered at a Phoenix church this morning for a ‘Dream of Life Walk’. They marched to the capitol in hopes of raising awareness about the issue. Governor Brewer, however, isn’t in Arizona. She sent out a message on Twitter late Friday night that said she is in Alaska on vacation.

The cuts to AHCCCS were made last year as part of the new budget. It left 98 people who needed transplants without funding from the program. Two have died since the cuts were made.

“By subtracting this funding from them, these 96 remaining people will die,” said Dr. Richard Darling, who attended Saturday’s march. “It won't be that long either because some of them are very, very ill.”

State leaders have said the cuts were necessary because of the dire budget issues.

But for Felix, he and his family have resorted to selling food at local events to help raise money. They sell hot dogs, chips and drinks, in hope of getting enough money to pay for the transplant. They said they need about $500,000 and including donations, have raised about $100,000.

“I’m going to be fighting, I’m not going to give up,” Felix said.

AHCCCS Transplant Watch: The Dying are Taxpayers, too.

"The Dying are Taxpayers, too: Restore AHCCCS Transplant Funding."
Arizona State Capitol / Wes Bolin Memorial Plaza
Phoenix, AZ (February 21, 2011)

Saturday, March 5
9:00am - 12:00pm


St. Matthew Catholic Church 2038 W Van Buren St.
TO: Arizona State Capital 1700 W Washington St. Phoenix, AZ


Dream of Life Walk

A Project of the Dream of Life Coalition:
Intervening to Help Critically Ill Patients to Receive Healthcare

Saturday March 5, 2011

Stand in solidarity!

Join AHCCCS transplant waiting list patients and their families:
Show Arizona Legislators that taking lives is not an option for budget cuts.
Help restore Medicaid cuts and reinstate life saving tissue and organ transplants.

Rally Cry!

Keep Your Promise, Governor Brewer!

Agenda:

Guest Speakers Including:
Representative Anna Tovar,
Representative Richard Miranda,
and Bill Remak

9:00 AM St. Matthew Catholic Church
2038 W Van Buren St.,
Phoenix, AZ

10:15 AM Briefing & March to State Capitol

11:00 AM Arizona State Capitol
1700 W Washington St.

View March Route
http://classic.mapquest.com/mq/7-m*tHmopt0yh_HFrQaZX3


Sign Online Petition: Stop Taking Lives for Budget Cuts
http://hepcop.org/


DLIC/saveAZ98Petition.asp


Refreshments Available

Dying to save Kavanagh $$$: AHCCCS Transplant Patients

Anyone out there from Fountain Hills who is not being accurately represented by John Kavanagh, please speak now. He will be wreaking havoc in our legislature this year, and you folks should rein him in before he hurts anyone else...

---------------------------------

No to transplant funds House, Senate panel chairmen will not give proposals a hearing

by Mary K. Reinhart - Feb. 3, 2011
The Arizona Republic

Arizonans who lost coverage for lifesaving organ transplants had political winds at their backs last fall, with national media attention and a sympathetic key Republican lawmaker.

But Rep. John Kavanagh's support has evaporated, and there now appears little chance legislators will restore funding to return nearly 100 people to waiting lists for heart, liver, bone-marrow and lung transplants.

"I've kind of lost hope," said Randy Shepherd, a Mesa father of three who needs a heart transplant. "I don't know how long we can bang our fists on the wall and continue to be ignored before we decide to be quiet and go away."


Last spring, lawmakers made sweeping cuts to the state's health-care program for the indigent to help bridge a budget shortfall of more than $3 billion, which amounted to nearly one-third of state revenues.

Kavanagh, the House Appropriations Committee chairman, said in November that he was concerned lawmakers had based their decision to deny coverage on flawed data provided by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program. He said he planned to hold a hearing to consider newer statistics showing better patient outcomes.

Now, he says that the mortality data called into question by leading transplant physicians here and across the country look solid and that additional information provided by the same doctors failed to persuade him to reconsider.

"Almost everybody died," Kavanagh said of certain transplant patients during a budget hearing Wednesday. "That's powerful stuff statistically."

While AHCCCS data from 2006 to 2007 showed that 13 of 14 patients who received bone-marrow transplants from unrelated donors died within the first year, doctors provided broader statistics that showed nine of 19 transplant patients were still alive, a 47 percent survival rate similar to the national average.

"Why are we relying on incomplete, old data? What other business would do that?" said Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Phoenix, a transplant survivor who received bone marrow from her brother in 2001. "If we can't take care of our most critically ill Arizonans, then we aren't doing our job."

Democrats have introduced four transplant-related bills, and Tovar is introducing four more today, including a measure to provide private matching dollars from the New Life Foundation for state transplant funding.

Four have been assigned to appropriations panels and the other four are expected to be.

Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Andy Biggs both said Wednesday that they will not hear them, which effectively kills the bills.

"We're not doing the budget in pieces," said Biggs, R-Gilbert, adding that Gov. Jan Brewer's staff told him she won't consider legislation to restore transplant coverage.

Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson said the governor's position hasn't changed since the transplant cuts took effect Oct. 1.

"We don't have the money," he said. "And who's going to lose coverage to pay for it?"

Arizona and Brewer received national attention after Goodyear father Mark Price, a leukemia patient, came forward with his story. Price was denied coverage for a bone-marrow transplant and put a human face on Arizona's deep budget cuts. An anonymous donor came forward to pay for his transplant, but Price died Nov. 28.

The AHCCCS cuts, which included annual physicals, podiatry and emergency dental care, saved $5.3 million this fiscal year, but the state loses about $20 million in matching federal funds. The services are considered optional under Medicaid rules.

Brewer's budget for the coming fiscal year proposes eliminating 280,000 people from AHCCCS to help balance a $1.15 billion budget deficit. Brewer has asked federal health officials for permission to waive a requirement to maintain Medicaid eligibility.

Meanwhile, Biggs has introduced a bill to repeal AHCCCS, which would mean the loss of about $7.5 billion in federal funds.

Under Senate Bill 1519, the state's current $2.5 billion Medicaid contribution would be divided among services for people who need long-term care, those with serious mental illness and the developmentally disabled.

Have a Heart 4 AHCCCS Transplant Patients

FRANCISCO FELIX: Father of 4 beautiful girls.
Hepatitis C AHCCCS Patient on Liver Transplant Waiting List.
Needs $500,000.
Car Wash today and Tomorrow.

--------------------

My friend Julie Acklin and I spent a few hours today with the friends and family of Francisco Felix, a Hepatitis C patient in need of a liver transplant. He actually had a match donated to him by a family friend who passed away in November, but he couldn't afford the $200,000 tab - and the state refused to step up to pay it.

Francisco is one of 98 patients in our state (now 97, I believe, with Mark Price's death) who lost funding this fall for their desperately needed organ and tissue transplants through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS - Arizona's name for Medicaid, which is less and less accessible under our compassionate conservatives). Several of the links I've embedded in this post will help you find out who voted for and against the cuts, but I can tell you it was pretty much a party-line thing. A week or so ago I protested at the Capitol and blogged on this issue, too (see "Bury My Heart in An AHCCCS Patient").

13-year old Carlos Olivas, Jr. (above, with Jessica Felix) also hit the Capitol to protest and has been everywhere fund-raising recently. I met him at the car wash today, and he's an amazing kid. Read the CNBC story about him if you need some inspiration to stop talking and take action for these folks. He's pretty humble about it, but as I understand it, he's single-handedly raised nearly $2,000 for the cause so far. Really, all those kids out there today were heroes; just a few (including Francisco's daughters) are pictured here.

The AZ Senate Democrats have filed a bill to restore the transplant funding, but they aren't the ones in control of the state legislature - the Republicans are, so lobby the Governor and your lawmaker for it hard, reminding them that it's our money they're depriving Arizona's families of, not theirs.

Anyway, the occasion today was a yard sale and car wash being held to raise money for Francisco, who will now need about $500,000 for his transplant and related expenses. A lot of people turned out, but I don't think we raised enough. In fact, I'm sure we didn't.


There will be another fundraiser for him tomorrow as well, so please bring your dirty cars, a little cash, and some rich friends or Republican legislators to support the cause.

It's being held from 7am-3pm at the entrance to Acclaim Charter School at 7624 W. Indian School Rd., on the West side of Phoenix between 76th and 77th Ave.

The easiest way I found to get there from my place on Central and Roosevelt was to hop on the I-10 going West, take the 75th Ave exit North, and head up to Indian School Road, where you'll make a left, going West again. About 1/4 mile down the road you'll see a ton of eager children on your right (probably waving hot pink signs) imploring you to wash your car. Turn in it even if it's already clean.


While you're waiting for your vehicle shop at NAPA Auto Parts (the guy there threw his support behind this whole thing), hit the yard sale for things you might (or might not) need, buy a Francisco Felix t-shirt, or mosey on to the back of the lot to pick up a couple of tacos. If you're really brave, turn your clean car over to me and the kids to have your back window painted. The photos throughout this post should give you an idea of what I mean.




If you can't make it tomorrow, don 't worry - you can still give to Francisco's fund. In fact, that's all I really want for Christmas, so if you really love me, go to the NTAF and donate today.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Feliz Navidad, mis amigos y amigas.



(hope I got that right... Love to all.)