Health care legislation may have unanticipated consequences,
reports a TV station in Indiana:Indiana may be forced to cut back on services to Medicaid patients to keep the program solvent without a tax increase. The new federal health care plan is predicted to boost the number of people on Medicaid -- one in four Hoosiers, compared to the current one in six, 6News' Norman Cox reported.
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Indiana is known for offering Medicaid recipients more services than many other states, even though it has fewer recipients. [State Senator Luke] Kenley acknowledged some of those services could be cut back or eliminated. "That's a strong possibility," he said. "I think at one point we had something like 31 optional services, which, you know, it was hard to get on our program. But once you were there, you were well taken care of. We just may not be able to afford to do that." Some of those optional services include dental and vision, addiction rehab and treatment for kids with autism. Kenley said it's too early to determine what services, if anything, may be eliminated.
