. J L 2 - AUGU 4, I
ICHIG
G It
dicaid
plan
Co tl ed fro P. 1
to Congre ional and Whi te
Hou e negotiator. at tbe
President's recent budget
ummit last month.
"Wbat BUdget Director
(Ricbard) Daman is proposing
is a sbort-sighted program to
spend Ie . on medical care for
the poor hen they first get
ick, ith little regard to what
ill bappen wben tbey get
sicker," declared
Penn ylvania State R .
David P. Richardson, Jr.,
NBCSL president, during
comment in the Dirksen
Senate Office Building last
uk..
CITING TWO resolutions
pa ed by tbe NBCSL Health
Committee and tbe annual
meeting of the Blac State
Legislators last December
(1989), Richardson said
NBCSL members in 43 states
believe that a separate
Medicaid formulary
(pre cription) system of any
kind is discriminatory. "It
become downright
dangerous hen it's based on
the notion of therapeutic drug
substitution ... Some may die
needles Iy under this
system .. .If the government
can't bow some compassion
for the poor at least let it
show some common sense,"
be added.
The National Medical
Association later joined uch
wide-ranging protesting
organizations as the American
Credi
Heart Association, the
American Medical
ASSOCiation, the Heritage
Foundation and tbe
bi-partisan Legi lative
Exchange Council in
expressing oppo ition to the
OMB when Dr. Virginia
Pinn- Wiggins, NMA
president, rote a eparate
letter to Darman declaring
_ that "the elderly, blind,
disabled, and indigent would
11 be victims of tbe new
program."
Rep. Loui Stokes
(D-Ohio), chairman of the
Congre sional Black Caucus
Heal tb Brain Tru t and a
Democratic National
Committee o(ficial, a
reported to be con idering
legislative oppo ilion to the
OMB propo al.
Speaking at the news
conference, C.· Alicia
Georges, New York based
president of tbe National
Black Nurses Assocrauon
(NBNA), declared "most of
my clients are poor and many
are on - Medicaid. My
experience is typical of bealth
. profe sionals who deal largely
wi th Medicaid patients
whether in inner cities or rural
areas ... The OMB proposal
isn't tooking at the same
world we wor in every day.
"Medicaid Patients rarely
have family doctors " she
continued. "They use the
emergency rooms of hospitals
or the walk-in clinics that we
in ew York ometime refer
to as "Medicaid Mill ". So the
p tients who are ic est and
most vulnerable will not get
the medication that the 'doctor
ordered a .. very likely ill
be &i ea IOmethiDI that on't
ork u ell.
ONCE AGAIN; people
with the least voices, bo are
t�e mOl t . powerle in our
ociety, are beiDg .old 'You
take bat you get' .. ," Mrs.
Georges laid.
Total prescription drug
. industry sales were
approximately $35 billion in
1989 and edieare and
Medicaid programs will
spend more than $10 billion
for prescription· drugs in
Fiscal 1990 tbrougb state
programs according to PMA
figu es released at the
Washington news
conference.
Tbe federal share of the
"Medicaid prescription drug
program will reach $3.5
billion in 1990 and $5.8
billion by 1995, but the OMB
proposed savings would
range from $300 million in
the current fiscal year to $1.1
billion in five years.
Tbe joint memorandum
issued by the organization
opposing the OMB proposal
says switching drugs without
telling pby lcians "is a
dangerous and scientificall y
unsound practice wbich, if
implemented,· will subject
Medicaid patient. to
second-cia medicines at
bes 1 and dangerou adverse
results at worse."
Moreover, the Darman plan
. make it a i potnt 10 say
pharm i t woUld Dot be Id
liable under state or federal
law if injurie or deaths were
the result of . witching to the
air Compa
•
Ie
Effective immediately
all credit services
organizations doing
business in Michigan arc
required to b licensed by
the Michigan Fin nci I
Institutions Bureau (FIB),
according to Murray A.
Brown, deputy
commissioner, FIB.
An amendment to the
Credit Services Act of
1988, signed into law by
Governor Blanchard on
M y 25, targets
organizations which were
previously unregulated.
These organizations,
sometimes called "credit
repair companies", must
demonstrate net worth over
S50,OOO, post a bond of at
least $10,000 with the
Commissioner of FIB, and
pass a background
investigation b fore being
licensed, Brown aid.
Exem pted from these
new requirements are
financial organizations
already regulated under
other laws. Examples of
exempt organizations are
banks, savings and 10 0
as oci tion ,credit unions.
credit reporting agcnices,
debt management
compaies, registered
broker-dealers and
investment advisers.
Credit services
organizations covered by
the act are prohibited from
doing business without
license, and from
conducting business at the
same location with any
other bu iness.
THESE COMPA IES
may not charge for
referring customers to
retailers to obtain the same
terms of credit available to
the general public. They
also may not require
customers to buy or rent
merchandise from anyone
as a condition of receiving
credit services.
I Credit services
rganizations are barred
from misleading or
defrauding tbe public
regarding their services
and charges, from making
false statement about a
customer's credit, and from
advisning
. consumer/client to falsify·
information about his or
her credit standing. Among
other prohibited activities,
customers c nnot be
required to waive their
legal rights, Brown said.
Violation of the act is a
misdemeanor punishable
. by up to 90 days in jail and
a $500 fine. Each
transaction that violates the
act, and each day t�at a
viol tion continues,
consti tute a separate
offense.
This amendment to the
1988 Credit Services Act
cheaper "therapeutic
alternatives" approved y the
Secretary of Heal tb and
Human Service under the
proposed new law, opponents
said.
Supporters of the Pryor bill
say savings ould begin at
$250 million in the first year,
but opponents believe the
result would be the arne as
the OMB proposal since it
would provide inferior and
'dangerous' medicare drugs
for Medicaid patients.
Rev. Jesse Jackson,
president of the National
RainBow Coalition, and Elton
Jolt y, president,
Opportunities Industrial
Centers of America, were
among repre entatives
signing the Memorandum to
the OMB.
SIMILAR PROPOSALS
for budget avings for "cost
containment" in state
Medicaid drug programs are
included in a bill proposed by
Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.)
which requires pharmacists to
use the most cost-effective
drug product in prescriptions·
by calling and obtaining the
patient's physician's
permission to dispense an
interchangeable drug. -
to be lie
ed
reflects concern of
consumer advoca tes and
the Michigan Legisla ture
over reported credit rep ir
abuses, such as
uncon ciona'ile Charges for
services, and failure to
deliver services as
contracted.
Credi t repair companies
are sometime confu ed
wit debt management
firms, which plan and
man ge the financial
affair of � debtor, and
whicb may be non-profit.
Debt management
compaie also perform
budget analysis and
financial counseling,
negotiate p yment to their
creditors.
CREDIT
REPAIR
the client's credit purchase
rom them as credit history
and challenge the accuracy
of a clients file at the
Credit Bureau, Brown said.
"Consumer should
k�ow that convenience is
the commodity they are
purcha ing from credi t
repair companies," states
FIB Commissioner Eugene
w. Kutby. "These
companies offer services
that informed consumers
could perform for
themselves. " I
Cred it services
organitions seeking to be
licensed bould cont ct
FIB immediately at (517)
373-8674 for the
a ppropria te forms nd
procedures. Consumers
with. I question or
campi ints may contact
FIB at t.he above number.
companie offer to improve
a client's credit or belp the
client find credit. They may
re er the client for a loan or
credit c rd, offer to report