In an interview with rolling out, Meridian Health’s CEO, Cristal Gary; and Dr. Cynthia Sanders shed light on Medicaid’s crucial role in supporting those affected by breast cancer. Watch the full interview in the video above.
What is Medicaid? And how does it differ from other health care insurance options, especially for breast cancer or prostate cancer patients?
Cristal Gary: Medicaid is a public health insurance program for people with low income or complex health needs. It covers more than 1 in 5 Americans, including low-income children and families, seniors and people with those complex health needs or disabilities requiring long-term services and support. Medicaid covers a broad range of services in order to meet the diverse needs of all of those populations. It differs from private insurance in a few important ways, and these are ways that it can be particularly important when it comes to people who are diagnosed with or are impacted by cancer. Medicaid has always provided coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
Also, people who are on Medicaid generally do not have to pay for their covered medical expenses. So those of us with private insurance, we know that we often have premiums. We have cost-sharing like co-pays and those can often make treatments for complex health needs especially cost-prohibitive. Medicaid generally either does not have or has very minimal cost-sharing requirements.
Dr. Cynthia Sanders: The only thing I would add as a physician is that it’s nice when your patients come in, and they don’t have to be concerned about their medications. Not being able to afford the medications, not being able to come back to see you, because they can’t afford the co-pay. All of that has been taken care of for them. So it’s a wonderful program.
Dr. Sanders, how can signing up for Medicaid alleviate the financial burden associated with breast cancer treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy?
CS: That is what’s wonderful about the program. Anything that is recommended for a patient going through breast cancer care — surgery, radiation, chemotherapy agents, travel, all of that is covered — and it’s covered without them having to have co-pays or anything. Once they understand the program, it is up to us to make sure that they understand their financial burden is gone. They don’t have to worry about it so they can just take care of themselves and not worry about, you know, is this gonna bankrupt me?
What specific breast cancer-related services and treatments are covered under Medicaid?
CS: Pretty much anything that is a recommended treatment. All we require is a request from their physician. And again, it’s a covered benefit. No charge to the patient. They just follow the doctor’s instructions.
CG: I also wanted to stress that Medicaid also covers screening and diagnosis. That’s really important. This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We always stress that early detection is really key along with getting access to those screening services and to those mammograms. We really encourage people to go in and do that.
