MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

  Exit  

MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News

MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

  Exit  

MDN.ORG Mo. Digital News Missouri Digital News MDN.ORG: Mo. Digital News MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News

Help  Close

retired people support health care bills

JEFFERSON CITY - Hours before the House HMO debate, about 100 members American Association of Retired People rallied in the Capitol Rotunda to voice support of the measure.

"The two bills propose in the House and the Senate will meet the needs of the older people." Said Betty Crim, from the Boone County chapter of the AARP.

"We have to ensure that this new organization is a fair delivery system, that it represents the citizens of Missouri," Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico and sponsor of the Senate bill, said in a speech to the group.

After the rally, the elderly advocates visited with lawmakers throughout the Capitol building.

"We need to talk to our representatives to let them know what we want." Said Harold Young, president of the Missouri Retired Teachers Association.

These bills require insurance companies to be more specific about the services that they provide and they also deal with those insurance companies that refuse to pay for certain services.

Under the House bill, the HMOs should:

* Forward to the Department of Health data regarding to quality and access to care.

* Demonstrate that their consumers have adequate access to health care providers.

* Give explanation of coverage exclusions for emergency services.

The main priority for the retired people association is to regulate some of the practices of the insurers providers, such as requiring the insurance company to include the payment for emergency room visits in cases of false alarm.

"You can have the symptoms of a hearth attack and it turns out to be a chest pain. It's hard for a lay person to diagnose their own problems," Crim said.