Medicaid Program; State Flexibility for Medicaid Benefit

My name is Lutfiyah Haji and I am a 4th year medical school student planning to complete my internship in Philadelphia, PA at Roxborough Memorial Hospital in June 2008. As a student, I had the opportunity to rotate at various hospitals across the nation. Again and again, I experienced the same frustration of limited access to healthcare. America has a large budget to pay for healthcare. And I remain confounded by the decisions made by our elected officials to stop paying for inexpensive services in place of more costly ones. This current proposal is another example. Yes, resources are limited, but please do not create this door as a way out for our state governments. They will use it because the underserved do not have the same might as corporations to protest. I oppose the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rule, file code CMS-2232-P, which allows states to eliminate non-emergency medical transportation as a benefit under Medicaid because: Non-emergency medical transportation is essential in the delivery of health care to approximately 36 million Americans covered under Medicaid. The POOR, MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY DISABLED AND ELDERLY PATIENTS who often have barriers to health care WILL BE UNABLE TO RECEIVE LIFE SUSTAINING HEALTH CARE TREATMENTS. UNDER THIS PROPOSAL, UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THEIR OWN TRANSPORTATION TO MEDICALLY NECESSARY HEALTH CARE SERVICES. Medicaid recipients often have physical or mental impediments that require specialized transportation that only non-emergency medical transportation providers can provide. Without non-emergency medical transportation, doctors, hospitals and clinics will be unable to treat their patients when they need treatment. While States may try cut costs by eliminating Medicaid non-emergency transportation benefits, states will in actuality be creating a disadvantaged population who will not have access to preventive care. In the long run, the costs to states will be huge as Medicaid patients will end up in expensive facility based care and hospital emergency rooms. I hope you will consider my views and assist in stopping this proposed rule as it will cause the general destabilization of Medicaid healthcare services nationwide. Sincerely, Lutfiyah Haji 4th year medical student Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Pomona, CA