Hands to Help Seniors
Monterey, CA Medi-Cal Patients Prefer Hospitals To Doctors Offices
by Richard Kuehn on 07/27/13
View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California A new study published in the Journal Health Affairs, shows that the perceived quality of care at providers accepting insurance from low-income residents (such as Medi-Cal) needs to be improved. Unfortunately, many on Medi-Cal continue to go to hospitals when they need medical care, bypassing traditional preventative care because they don't feel they will get the care that they need. Respondents in the study said that they trusted hospitals to give them a speedy diagnosis and better quality of care than they would receive from a physician in a traditional setting. "These patients eloquently explain to us how we have built a health care system that incentivizes them to wait and get sick in order to get care that is more costly to society,:" study author Davide Grande told USA Today. One issue is that reimbursement rates are so low that few doctors take Medi-Cal. And even if you can find one that accepts this insurance it's likely to be difficult to get an appointment and it could be in a rushed setting. Doctors simply need to take more patients to make ends meet. This problem needs to be fixed as even more California residents are going to be added to the Medi-Cal roles in coming years due to health care reform.
Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.
Monterey, CA Food Stamp Program In Jeopardy
by Richard Kuehn on 07/26/13
View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California The bickering in Washington D.C. has become so depressing and hard to watch, but it must be even worst for those which are being hard hit by budget cutting being done in Congress. The latest explosion came when Republicans tried to completely cut food stamps from a proposed farm bill. After several years of escalation in costs for federal nutrition programs, the House Republicans thought they would cut food stamp spending completely out of the bill and see what happened. There will now be a huge battle on this front as Democrats and Republicans try and negotiate a five-year farm bill by the September 30 deadline. "Food-stamps funding has been part of the wider farm bill for 40 years and Senate Democrats will continue to insist that it remains part of a comprehensive bill," Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat, Illinois) and the assistant majority leader, told the Wall Street Journal. I certainly hope so. I am tired of watching from the sidelines as the poor continue to suffer from politicians cutting social programs at both the state and federal levels.
Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.
Monterey, CA Dental Care For The Poor Coming Back To California, Denti-Cal Returns In 2014 :
by Richard Kuehn on 07/18/13
View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California One of the biggest requests Hands to Help Seniors has is from seniors that need dental work but can't afford to pay for it. Unfortunately, Medi-Cal doesn't cover dental work at all, and many seniors put this off too long because of the high cost. This can lead to other medical problems. I was happy to read that one of the victims of our state budget cuts back in 2009, Denti-Cal, which gave dental insurance to 3 million poor Californians, is coming back. Starting in May of 2014, the coverage will be partially restored thanks to our state budget numbers coming in better than expected. Coverage will include X-rays, cleaning, routine exams, some root canals, crowns and full sets of dentures. It will no longer cover partial dentures and some other procedures. Although it's sad that the Legislature only allocated $94 million to Denti-Cal rather than the $130 million that was needed to fully fund the program, we can't look a gift horse in the mouth.
http://www.montereyherald.com/news/ci_23616211/denti-cal-return-2014
About Richard Kuehn & Hands to Help Seniors:
After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member, it became clear to me that there are many seniors that can't afford to pay for a private duty caregiver, not to mention medical expenses, food and property taxes on their home. I decided to form a non-profit to help seniors with any service they might need to get by, should they be unable to afford this themselves. From putting on a new roof to providing a hot meal, Hands to Help Seniors is there to help. Please visit my blog where I talk about important senior issues at:
http://www.h2hs.org/news-and-media.html
Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.
Monterey, CA Medi-Cal and Medicaid Needs More Continuity Across Different States
by Richard Kuehn on 07/14/13
View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez,
Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas,
Seaside And Soledad California
As
Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California) expands rapidly under the new health
care reform rules, many worry about how states will cope with the huge influx
of people being covered. Many states, including California, outsource their
enrollees to ensure quality of care and make things more efficient. But many in the healthcare sector believe
that this is not ideal. The latest data
from the Centers For Medicare
& Medicaid Services showed that California leads the nation in the number of
Medicaid managed care participants (and this is prior to the expansion). We currently have more than 4.5 mil.
enrollees in these types of plans, more than 15% of our country's total. Many believe that there needs to be more
consistency on a national level.
"The quality of the monitoring and the quality of the managed care
really varies from state to state," Joan Alker, a co-executive director of
the Center on Children and Families at Georgetown University, told USA
Today. "These are very vulnerable
populations, and sometimes, not getting the services they need is a matter of
huge import." I agree. Many of
those on Medi-Cal don't realize that they have rights just as those do who are
covered by private insurance. They
believe because the government is footing the bill, they have to take whatever
is doled out. This isn't true. Medi-Cal comes at an extremely high cost and
that will only increase next year. We
must make the system as efficient as possible.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/04/more-eyes-on-medicaid-oversight/2490197/
About
Richard Kuehn & Hands to Help Seniors:
After more than a decade of caregiving, both
in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member, it became
clear to me that there are many seniors that can't afford to pay for a private
duty caregiver, not to mention medical expenses, food and property taxes on
their home. I decided to form a non-profit to help seniors with any
service they might need to get by, should they be unable to afford this
themselves. From putting on a new roof to providing a hot meal, Hands to
Help Seniors is there to help. Please visit my blog where I talk about
important senior issues at:
http://www.h2hs.org/news-and-media.html
Please note that this blog reflects my
personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help
Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.
Monterey, CA Homeless Population Counted by Monterey County
by Richard Kuehn on 07/09/13
View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California
I've written a number of times on my blog about the growing homeless problem in Monterey County now that Santa Cruz has chased many of their poor out of town and they have arrived on our doorstep. A recently released study conducted by Monterey County earlier this year found a 3% increase in the number of homeless people, which now total 2,590. Of the total, 76% did not have any shelter, living in the open, in an abandoned building, or in their car. A whopping 65% reported being homeless for a year or more, and 6% of them had at least one disabling medical condition. Only 61% were receiving government assistant. The number of homeless has been up every year since 2007. Some wondered how accurate the count was, however. "It had to be some kind of glitch," Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Kampe told a reporter, referring to a count of 61 homeless in his city in 2011 and just 6 in 2013. It's possible. Census counting always produces some glitches, but the fact that the number of homeless has been rising every year since 2007 is disturbing.
http://www.pineconearchive.com/downloads130705.html
About Richard Kuehn & Hands to Help Seniors:
After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member, it became clear to me that there are many seniors that can't afford to pay for a private duty caregiver, not to mention medical expenses, food and property taxes on their home. I decided to form a non-profit to help seniors with any service they might need to get by, should they be unable to afford this themselves. From putting on a new roof to providing a hot meal, Hands to Help Seniors is there to help. Please visit my blog where I talk about important senior issues at:
http://www.h2hs.org/news-and-media.html
Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.
