When the doors opened this morning at a Planned Parenthood office in Gary, patients who showed up were in for shock because a common payment option is no longer available. But, patients did receive the customary medical documents.
RECEPTIONIST: Go ahead and filled those out for me. Top part there the next one is front and back. And when you’re done please bring those back to me and thank you.
But when this patient returned to the counter, the receptionist provided some new information.
RECEPTIONIST: We may not be able to bill Medicaid but we are going to take care of you. . . . We may not be able to bill Medicaid.
WOMAN: Why is that?
RECEPTIONIST: Governor Mitch Daniels passed a bill. It’s basically saying we can’t get federal funding because Medicaid is federal funding, we can’t accept your Medicaid here today.
WOMAN: What am I supposed to do now? Find somewhere else to go? I don’t understand it. It took me a whole month to get Medicaid in the first place and I can’t use it.
Planned Parenthood office manager Maritza Torres assured the woman that she would be seen today and Planned Parenthood would pay for the service through a special backup fund for low-income people. But those funds aren’t going to last forever. In fact, they may run out this weekend. WBEZ
No comments:
Post a Comment