Neb. doctors group helping women who lost Medicaid

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Neb. doctors group helping women who lost Medicaid
Published: 01:02 p.m., Friday, April 16, 2010
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska Medical Center's physician practice group has been providing prenatal services for about 600 pregnant women, most illegal immigrants, who recently lost state-funded care.
Carl Smith of UNMC's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology told the University of Nebraska regents Friday that the free or discounted care will cost the group about $600,000 a year.
UNMC is part of the four-campus University of Nebraska system that is publicly funded, but the UNMC Physicians practice group does not use public funding.
The group has historically provided prenatal care for about 600 women every year, group CEO Cory Shaw said. The money to pay for that care comes from patient care fees that go to cover the health system's costs for treating uninsured patients.
"One of the conditions of being a tax-exempt organization is an obligation to provide a certain amount of charity care," Shaw said.
About 870 illegal immigrants and 750 legal residents lost coverage March 1 when Nebraska had to eliminate its two-decade-old policy that allowed unborn children to qualify for Medicaid.
Some lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to create a new program that would allow the group of 1,600 women, and many more in the future, get the type of prenatal care lost when the Medicaid policy was nixed.
Lawmakers' efforts faltered when Gov. Dave Heineman said he couldn't support it because of his opposition to providing taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants.
Heineman was traveling through the state Friday and could not immediately be reached for comment.
"The governor isn't yet aware of what was discussed today at the regents' meeting," Heineman spokeswoman Jen Rae Hein said. "But his position has not changed. He does not support taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants."
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