Want Medicaid coverage? A drug test should come first, Wisconsin governor says

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/Washington Post

Now that House Republicans have squandered their shot at reordering Medicaid, governors who want conservative changes in the health program for low-income Americans must get special permission from the Trump administration.

Near the front of the line is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who not only supports work requirements and premium payments but also a new additional condition: to make applicants undergo a drug test if they’re suspected of substance abuse.

If Walker gets his way, Wisconsin would be the first state in the country with mandatory drug screening for Medicaid enrollees. The governor plans to release his proposal in mid-April and submit it to the Department of Health and Human Services by the end of May.

The approach — which also would mandate treatment for those testing positive — aligns with the goals of several Republican governors intent on tightening the program. Although the Obama administration allowed them to place expectations on enrollees, they’re hoping for far more leeway from HHS Secretary Tom Price.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/want-medicaid-coverage-a-drug-test-should-come-first-wisconsin-governor-says/ar-BBzdRBw

---

I guess that is one way to go after weed.

[Matthew28]

1. Die fast

is what this party wishes for anyone that isn't part of the top 5%.

Can't get high either to ease your pain as well kick your fucking door in.

[tenorly]

3. Death is too good for these Kochsuckers.

What they need is life sentences, with hard labor.

Let them repay a little of the gargantuan debt to society they're leaving - and, who knows, maybe even save their souls in the process.

[MarcA]

14. Agreed

[ck4829]

2. Good lord, what is it with Republicans and trying to get jars of urine?

Are Republicans channeling the ghost of Howard Hughes?

[TomCADem]

5. Ask Trump. He's a fan of water sports.

[CountAllVotes]

27. they save it

I heard there is this thing called a "Golden Shower" that they enjoy!

[Phoenix61]

4. Yep!

Everything else flushes out of your system within 3 days. The tragic part is if they caught everybody who was using opioids/meth etc where would they send them for treatment? That is one of the bottlenecks for people who want to get treatment, not enough beds in treatment facilities. I really wish we would take the approach Portugal took. Treat addiction as a public health issue instead of a DOJ issue.

[Scarsdale]

28. Expensive

to try to get treatment. Insurance companies do not want to pay for it, either. I have said for years that instead of building prisons, this country would do well to build treatment facilities to help people get cured. Throwing people in prison benefits nobody, unless (like Dickless Cheney) you own stock in private prisons.

[sharp_stick]

6. I've always said that I'd agree to this

the minute they put an alcohol interlock on the doors to the Legislature and every members office. If you want to come in you have to blow clean.

The only reason governments want to do this is the people in government and their paymasters own shitloads of equity in the testing companies and this is a major and simple cash cow that the simpletons that vote them in think is a good idea.

[Scarsdale]

29. Boehner

seemed to be soused every day. I remember a gop politician, Bob Packwood saying after he was accused of sexually harassing females "I do not remember, I was drunk most of the time" Now we pay his pension and healthcare for the rest of his life.

[Callmecrazy]

7. So if the test comes back positive...

Are they going to deny them coverage for the rehab?

[barbtries]

8. what bullshit.

gawd i hate republicans.

[Doreen]

9. DAMN!!!

I keep forgetting that everybody who qualifies for Medicaid has enough money to buy drugs also. What dicks.

[Hoyt]

10. If the purpose is to provide treatment, as OP indicates, rather than deny coverage, not totally

opposed. Don't trust Walker's admin to keep it pure, nor that testing will only target those reasonably suspected of drug abuse.

[bitterross]

22. I'm Afraid that alleged goal is BS

The goal behind Walker’s proposal “is to help people get healthy so they can get back in the workforce,” said Julie Lund, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

The way to get people healthy is to provide them with addiction treatment so they can get back into the work force. Not deny them treatment so they have no life, no job, no prospects of anything good - so why not use every dime escaping the horrible reality Republicans have created for them.

As a member of the Recovery Community I have a fair amount of experience with this subject - unfortunately. I can say without fear of contradiction based on facts rather than ideology; the punitive "Get clean and sober or else" way of doing things does not work. It didn't work with "Just Say No" or "Scared Straight." It will not work by withholding medical care from those in need. It will just give people with addiction problems one more reason to feel alienated from society and justified in using.

[rusty quoin]

11. Is Quest Diagnostics a big contributor to Republicans or something.

I get the meanness part, but it's usually about money.

[dalton99a]

13. 76% of Quest Diagnostics PAC money goes to Republicans

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00329185

[titaniumsalute]

12. Florida (Dick Scott) wanted to do drug testing for Welfare

The program to drug test cost more for FL taxpayers then was saved from people being positive on drugs and not going on welfare. It was less than one-half % of people who tested positive. Oh,m and Scott's wife owned the drug testing company.

[briv1016]

15. Notice that this is NOT in exchange for expanding Medicaid.

He just wants to implement this on existing recipients.

[pat_k]

16. Presumably the mandated treatment would be covered by Medicaid?

But what happens if the person relapses? The right thing to do would be to cover as many shots at treatment as the person wants, while providing Medicaid coverage for everything else.

If course I don't think that's what he has in mind. I'm sure it's more like "We gave you a shot. Now go die you fucking untreatable addict."

Yup. Deny healthcare to people who tend to have lots of health problems. That's the ticket!

[Still In Wisconsin]

17. Ah yes, my home state leading...

in all the wrong ways.

[turbinetree]

18. The only reason why he is still in power is because of the Rat F***k going on

there corrupt supreme court, legislature.

If anyone with any common sense left in that state thinks that there grandmother, grandfather, uncle, or whoever that is having problems should take a pee test, then someone needs to take this to court and ask the judge to take pee test before rendering judgement from this ass**** concept of of disgust and corruption.

Hey Wisconsin did you forget this shit------if you can listen

[IronLionZion]

19. and if they need treatment for addiction? too bad?

[Lifelong Protester]

20. If anyone (that means you, governor) takes WI money

then take a drug test. If I remember right, that put an end to Governor Rick Scott's "fantasy".

[Vinca]

21. What if you need medical care to get off drugs???

[bitterross]

23. Complete and Utter Bullshit

The goal behind Walker’s proposal “is to help people get healthy so they can get back in the workforce,” said Julie Lund, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

The way to get people healthy is to provide them with addiction treatment so they can get back into the work force. Not deny them treatment so they have no life, no job, no prospects of anything good - so why not use every dime escaping the horrible reality Republicans have created for them.

As a member of the Recovery Community I have a fair amount of experience with this subject - unfortunately. I can say without fear of contradiction based on facts rather than ideology; the punitive "Get clean and sober or else" way of doing things does not work. It didn't work with "Just Say No" or "Scared Straight." It will not work by withholding medical care from those in need. It will just give people with addiction problems one more reason to feel alienated from society and justified in using.

I speak from direct, personal experience here.

As backup to my statements please feel free to check out In the Realm of Hungry Ghost by Gabor Mate, an addiction treatment doctor. Or Memoirs of an Addicted Brain by Marc Lewis, a neuroscientist who studies addiction.

Mate also has a great TED talk that is worth watching:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYptn3oIjTAhXGsFQKHflhDWUQyCkIHDAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D66cYcSak6nE&usg=AFQjCNGi4rn7zaobO92fhYFhQiRPWxyr0w&sig2=h_xAGNwzQ9I-mg412W_I1A&bvm=bv.151325232,d.cGw

[dembotoz]

24. Do I get to provide my sample in his office?? My aim not what it used to be

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Abuse of which drugs? Nicotine? Alcohol? Those are the 2 most likely to do damage

What level of alcohol is 'abuse'? I suppose you could make the case that if you give someone an appointment time, they should be able to abstain long enough before it to have no alcohol in their system. Is any indication of smoking tobacco on a regular basis 'abuse'?

[Guilded Lilly]

26. And "The People" should be guaranteed that lawmakers are free and clear of

drugs, alcohol and mental illness by having everyone running for office being tested thoroughly before their name goes on the ballot.

[Yavin4]

30. What if you have cancer and are taking opiods to help you with the pain?

Are you supposed to deny the medicine?

[Grins]

31. I used to be against this - now I'm for it! Go Scottie!

After reading the Washington Post and NY Times this weekend, I now think this is a good idea. For everyone! Let them ALL get tested!

Joe, a 4-year old white male, has M.S. and cannot work. His wife makes $9,000 a year. They have three children. They get county help getting basic repairs done on their home, the funding for which comes to the county from a HUD program called HOME. William Long is 67, had a heart-attack in 2009, could no longer work, is now retired, is living on $1,400 a month from Social Security, and admits HOME "saved him". They all voted for Trump who now plans on killing that program. The county they live in that administers the program that keeps them afloat - went overwhelmingly for Trump. Suckers.

Betty Harris, 77, in Oklahoma makes daily visits to the senior center that offers lunch for two bucks, exercise classes, gospel singalongs, tax preparation help, monthly boxes of food for low-income seniors, a meal delivery program, and a staff that can explain Medicare or how to operate a cellphone. Trump's budget would dramatically cut funding for Betty's Senior Center. Betty voted for Trump, as did the county in which she lives by a large majority.

Seems to me that to get those funds, Joe and Tammy and all their children, and William, and Betty, and all those who make up the staff of those organizations that help them - should be drug tested! (Yes, I admit many will "pass"; but they should go through the same process just so they can be and feel humiliated by the experience they want to force on those less fortunate. The optics would be wonderful.)

And so should those getting help from the Appalachian Regional Commission, from Americorps, from the Legal Services Commission, from the Inter-Agency for Homelessness. What about those drug-abusing Meals-on-Wheels recipients? Piss in this cup first or "No soup for you!" Chronic mental health problems? Here's your cup! What's that? You now need a Hoveround? Fill out the form, but first - here's your cup! Hope you pass and not get a false-positive! And what about those caught in the now-white opioid epidemic? Good freaking luck!!

After all, why "...spend [money] on programs that cannot show that they actually deliver the promises that we’ve made to people”, it's “one of the most compassionate things we can do", said Trump's OMB Gorgon.

Only when it hit them personally will things change. Let the GOP own these voters. Let conservatives put into real lives their core conservative belief in "personal responsibility", and see how far that goes. Let Trump’s white working-class base take responsibility for their own votes!! Let them live with the consequences of their votes. Let them reap the consequences for voting against their own interests. That they will sabotage other needy Americans along with them, well, that's just unavoidable - and America!

[mwooldri]

32. Want to be a politician? A polygraph test should come first, says mwooldri.

Maybe we can get some politicians to tell the truth.

In any case it's best to get people on medicaid, and if the person has a substance abuse problem and wants to solve it then Medicaid can cover the costs of a rehabilitation program. Better than going into jail.