January 06, 2004
This payment is completely voluntary. Now, volunteer... or else!
Confusion continues over Florida’s attempts to extort money from the poor in the form of prescription co-payments. Sunday, it was widely reported that the state was having individual pharmacists decide who could and could not afford to pay for their prescription drugs. Now, the state is saying that the program was actually voluntary all along and that no one will be forced to pay. Of course, the state still “strongly suggests” that patients voluntarily pay, ‘cause statistics show that voluntary payers have their legs broken 95% less often than those who choose not to pay.
The federal government, which pays more than half the cost of Medicaid, said poor people who can't afford the fees can't be forced to pay them.Posted by Norwood at January 6, 2004 06:41 AMSo the state made the co-pays voluntary, and rushed to notify pharmacies in time for the program to take effect Jan. 1. Many of the pharmacies began collecting the fees.
But patients and their advocates immediately cried foul, saying the state hadn't notified Medicaid participants of the additional costs or that the fees were voluntary.
The state suspended the co-pay program Friday until it figures out what to do.
