With all of the immigration diaries that have been posted lately, a very controversial change in receiving health care services was snuck into the Deficit Reduction Act.
Born out of ongoing efforts in Washington to clamp down on illegal immigration, the new federal requirement compels anyone seeking Medicaid coverage to provide a birth certificate, a passport, or another form of identification in order to sign up for benefits or renew them.
As Massachusetts is now attempting enroll those who do not have coverage into Medicaid, this is gaining national attention. The penalties in the law are for the immigrants–including denying most adults medical care, under the guise that it will save public funds. However, many doctors hold the opposite view, as those w/o any type of medical coverage. Many physicians feel that emergency rooms will become a person’s only focus of medical care, as opposed to less costly preventive care.
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Now, it is also necessary to take another careful look at some of the consequences w/the implementation of Medicare D(isaster) for immigrants who are eligible for payment for rx’s.
In a nutshell, seniors and people with disabilities (who speak little English) are having an extremely difficult time w/Medicare D(isaster). As the regulations and the formularies are constantly changing/being translated into another form of bureaucratese, the hardships for those who speak limited, if any English have been understated. A few examples:
- Victor Law, owner of Alpha Pharmacy, has spent countless hours helping many Chinese-speaking seniors.
“It’s driving them nuts!” “Oftentimes they have a whole bunch of letters in their hand and we have to review them and explain to them what is going on.”
- Amy Chin, 73, wanted to know how the cost of her rx’s. She was tired of repeatedly trying and experienced long waits. With a reporter and Korean center staffer listening in, Chin again called up her plan, Humana, to reach an interpreter. The Korean center staffer had advised her to press 0 until she was able to talk to a person and say, “Korean, please.” After 15 minutes, she hung up, called back and waited half an hour longer before an interpreter came on the line. Coincidencally, this was only after the center volunteer intervened to make the request again.
- Kyong Lee, 65, called to get her drug prescription card number, and was told
“We cannot help you. Sadly, we do not have an interpreter’s line …. Thank you for calling Unicare.”
- Over a month ago, Lee Sun Hua, 81, was unable to obtain his rx. First, he was told that it was because he did not have a card. Lee then contacted a volunteer at a non-profit agency that provides services to Koreans, and was still unable to receive the card. A few weeks ago, Lee contacted his insurance carrier, BCBS and requested an interpreter, using a tip sheet to explain that he did not speak English. BCBS responded by claiming that no one spoke Korean.
Lee, who has lived in the United States for 20 years, is quoted through a translator:
“Medicare Part D is run by the taxes that I paid by working hard when I was younger. I had a hope that the United States would deal with my case appropriately because I have paid my taxes appropriately.”
There have been many complaints all over the country about the lack of translators. According to Peter Ashkenaz, Medicare must accommodate non-English-speaking callers. When calling Medicare directly, one can request a translator through the toll-free line. However, than pressing two for Spanish, the menu of options is in English, with nothing to suggest that interpreters are available.
But a request for an interpreter for a language other than Spanish needs to be made in English!!!