Medicaid: cld cover all low income,uninsured Americans and NC could do away w/ the paperwork mess re: state funded folks needing mental health care

There's a massive amount of paperwork, consumer disatisfaction, and professional disatisfaction concerning the state funded clients (the working poor; those w/o health insurance; no medicaid and no medicare; no insurance from their employer).

There's a great number of people like this in western NC.

Here is a great proposal to expand Medicaid to these uninsured citizens and it would remove the administrative costs of the LME's and lighten their load so that they could adequately peruse Medicaid in an effective manner.

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Center on Budget & Policy Procedures:

IMPROVING MEDICAID AS PART OF BUILDING ON THE CURRENT SYSTEM TO ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL COVERAGEby January Angeles

http://www.cbpp.org/2-24-09health.htm
"Expanding Medicaid an Effective Way to Cover Low-Income, Uninsured Americans
Medicaid’s proven success at providing comprehensive, affordable coverage to tens of millions of low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities makes it an excellent option for expanding coverage to a broader group of low-income, uninsured Americans. A substantial portion of uninsured people have characteristics that are similar to current Medicaid beneficiaries: two-thirds of them are poor or near-poor, 10 percent are in fair or poor health, and almost half suffer from a chronic condition.[6] Medicaid’s benefit package and cost-sharing structure are well-matched to this population’s needs."