Medical Assistance Reform = Death Sentences By Legislative Pens?

An Arizona man was denied a liver that had been type-match perfectly to him after it was delivered to the hospital where he lay waiting for it to save his life because budget cuts to the medical assistance program couldn't afford to pay for it, nor could he as he was indigent.

See: Arizona man sentenced to death by legislative budget cuts

If you were thinking that wouldn't happen in Wisconsin, think again.

Governor Walker's proposed budget reform bill includes a medical assistance reform act that may limit or even eliminate Badger Care, Wisconsin's medical assistance program that pays for transplants.

Governor Walker's medical assistance reform act seeks to push through a change that doesn't appear all that harmful on its face, but when you read between the lines, it is a formula for deletion of the medical assistance benefits that save the lives of many, many people in Wisconsin. People who have lost their jobs, and thus lost their insurance benefits, often find themselves meeting the federal povery guidelines and qualifying for Badger Care. The bill cleverly excludes those who are disabled. But the reality of the situation of a person who needs a transplant is that they are not considered to be 'disabled' by the administrative definition of that word until the moment at which they receive the transplant, per the department of Social Security. His bill has the potential to eliminate transplants for Wisconsin people in need of them who could not afford to pay the price.

That person could be you.

Cut budgets, cut pay raises, increase the costs of pensions and insurance to state employees to equalize what the rest of the private sector is paying, but don't play God and take life from people who need transplants.

Obviously, people in need of joint or bone replacements would also fall under the 'excluded' list because neither would be considered to be 'disabled' until such time that they were receiving the replacement, hence no benefits would be available until after the transplant were done unless they already qualified due to being impoverished provided that those benefits were still available after the study and changes.