The Federal government has declared that it will no longer provide matching funds to pay for chemotherapy treatments for illegal immigrants in New York state. New York has used Medicaid, which allows for emergency care for illegal immigrants and other noncitizens, to pay for cancer treatments. The state argues that cancer is a medical emergency and should thus be covered under the Medicaid program. Sadly the Federal government has been taking steps to limit state’s use of the Medicaid program and is adopting stricted standards for what medical care can be covered by Medicaid.
I believe that health care is human right and that we need to further open access to health care for the millions of people in U.S. Restricting access to health care in a life or death situation such as cancer diagnosis is a huge step backward.
Here is a think to the full text of the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/washington/22emergency.html
