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Louisiana warns 37,000 Medicaid recipients they may face loss of care over budget cuts
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For Jamie Duplechine, a quadriplegic who has spent more than half of her 38 years in a wheelchair, it’s an endless source of amusement that three of the caregivers who watch her around the clock in her Louisiana apartment just happen to be named Shonda, Shamanda and Sherry.
Karen Scallan is also on a first name basis with the caregivers who come to her suburban New Orleans home to help her take care of her 17-year-old son, who has Down syndrome — and free her up so she can work and take care of her 63-year-old husband, who suffers from diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
So when the letter arrived this week warning them that they were at risk of losing their health care services starting on July 1 because of their state’s budget crisis, they reacted the same way — with dread.
“I have staff with me throughout the day and night,” Duplechine, who was paralyzed at age 15 in a car accident, told NBC News. “They do my hygiene, my catheter care, my bowel care. They cook my meals, they bathe me, they drive me everywhere. Without them, I’m in a devastating state.”
Scallan, 59, said having the extra help enables her to work from home as a private adviser to other individuals with disabilities who need help navigating the Medicaid system.
“You can’t watch someone every minute of the day and work,” she said. “What’s happening is inexcusable and the families that are affected are watching. We know who is responsible.”
The Louisiana Department of Health, on orders from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, mailed 37,000 letters out to people Tuesday who rely on Medicaid health care programs that are considered “optional” under federal guidelines. The letters warned them they could lose their home health care aides and be forced out of their nursing homes starting July 1.
Edwards on Thursday also warned that both of the state’s medical schools might have to close and that several big hospitals may have to lay off staffers.
The reason? The Republican-controlled state House of Representatives made deep cuts to the proposed budget to make up for a $650 million shortfall rather than continue a temporary tax which ends on June 30 — and had been buttressing the bottom line.
The GOP was outraged by Edwards’ move.
“This is premature at best, reckless at worst,” House Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry, a Republican, said. “His fix is to scare the elderly of this state, and that is an embarrassment.”
Henry’s broadside was followed by a strident statement from the state’s Senate Republican Delegation.
“Make no mistake, the situation is dire,” it said. “There is just not enough money to go around. However, we in the Senate have no intention of putting Medicaid recipients on the streets or closing down medical schools.”
But Edwards’ chief numbers guy insisted their only aim was to give the people who rely on the endangered services plenty of time to prepare for the worst.
“The letter is scary, but it’s not a tactic,” Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardennesaid Wednesday. “This is the reality we are facing.”
Nearly 19,000 nursing home residents, 2,700 people with developmental disabilities, some 7,600 home health care patients, and 7,200 people who receive a range of services, got the one-page letter with this dire warning: “Because of possible budget cuts, these programs may end as of July 1, 2018 but the federal government must first approve ending the programs.”
Sandee Winchell, executive director of the Louisiana Developmental Disability Council, said she was outraged lawmakers would even consider making cuts that would harm some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
“It’s unconscionable,” said Winchell. “About 9,700 people with development disabilities would lose their services … This cannot happen.”
Duplechine, who works for Winchell’s outfit as an advocate for others with disabilities, admits she’s “freaked out.”
“It made me think about the Holocaust and how Hitler weeded out people,” she said. “He started with the elderly and disabled. If we don’t have anybody to help us, if we don’t have any place to go, we’re just going to die off. I’m really scared for my life.”
Scallan said the letter arrived during a week in which she was knocked off her feet by a virus and during which her husband’s heath took a sudden turn for the worse. She said they’re going on a vacation courtesy of the Make-a-Wish Foundation in a few days and, given how frail her husband is, it’s likely to be their last as a family.
“This past week did me in,” she said. “From a political standpoint, I am not entirely surprised this is happening, but as a resident of Louisiana I have never seen it this bad. I am appalled and horrified they let it get this far.”
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COVID-19: Lebanon’s health service close to collapse with case numbers beyond ‘wildest predictions’ | World News
The head of Lebanon’s main coronavirus hospital has said the country’s health system is close to collapse – with not enough beds, drugs, oxygen, ventilators or staff.
In a stark interview with Sky News, Dr Firas Abiad said the government decision to relax coronavirus restrictions over a few fateful days at Christmas and New Year has led to a huge increase in cases and deaths over the past few weeks.
He allowed our cameras into the casualty department and the intensive care unit of the Rafic Hariri University Hospital in Beirut to see the pressure he and his staff are under.
Dr Abiad said all hospitals were reporting full, or almost full, intensive care units – and many have patients stuck in emergency wards, waiting for a bed.
Dr Abiad said the government has thrown the healthcare system ‘into an abyss’
“Some patients are not able to find a bed and there’s been several cases where patients have died in their homes,” he said.
“If you look at the sharp rise in cases you see that Lebanon is really seeing unprecedented COVID numbers which is even beyond our wildest predictions.
“The number of daily new cases has almost quadrupled since where we were almost a month ago,” said Dr Abiad.
“At the same time we’ve seen that the number of deaths has also tripled and the number of patients in ICU has gone up by almost 100%.”
On 17 December, four days before a nationwide lockdown was due to end, the government decided to ease a series of restrictions for the holiday period.
Under intense pressure from businesses, they allowed nightclubs, bars and restaurants to open at 50% capacity while urging people to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
But videos on social media over Christmas and New Year showed packed clubs and bars. No attempts were made to crackdown on the violations.
“It’s clear that those were catastrophic [decisions] and what has happened is they’ve thrown the whole healthcare system of the country into a major abyss,” said Dr Abiad.
In the casualty department, the pressures are obvious. There is a shortage of beds, drugs, oxygen, ventilators and staff.
It is a relatively modern hospital but it looks sparse, except for the number of patients.
A nurse strokes a patient’s head.
“I am passing out… I am passing out,” he tells the nurse.
“No, no! You’re doing very well. Don’t be scared. Your oxygen is good. 99%. Honestly it’s very good,” she reassures him.
In the next bed is 53-year-old Aida Derawi. She first began to feel unwell 15 days ago. Her family had hoped she would recover at home, but this week things got worse.
“Yesterday I felt I couldn’t take it anymore,” she says. “My back and lungs were aching. My kids took me around to find a hospital but not a single one would accept me.”
Eventually space was found and she is improving slowly.
Nurse Hussein al Khazn tells us that in this wave of the virus, the patients are no longer predominately elderly.
Red Cross volunteer Waad Abdulaad is very much on Lebanon’s frontline
“Much younger now,” he says. “Before we had 50, 60-year-old patients.
“Now it’s 20, 25, 30-year-old patients and they’re very, very critical – all of them.”
On the other side of the city, we’re given access to the Lebanese Red Cross coordination centre.
In a well-organised control room, a team of volunteers is juggling telephone calls from patients’ families with radio calls to the ambulance teams on the ground.
“So, she’s ill with coronavirus?” a volunteer asks down the line. “So she’s got shortness of breath?”
A radio message is sent to one of the dispatch teams.
“We’re dispatched to a patient that tested positive for COVID and she’s currently suffering from desaturation and vomiting,” volunteer medic Waad Abdulaal says from the passenger seat of the ambulance.
“So we’re going to go ahead, assess her and see if there’s a need to take her to the hospital.”
Lebanon was already in a critical state economically.
Years of accumulative economic mismanagement has led to a slow collapse in every sector of society.
That was then exacerbated by the pandemic and the devastating port explosion last year.
Ambulance crews carry an 80-year-old woman down a flight of stairs in darkness due to another power cut
Up several flights of a stairwell, in darkness because of yet another power cut, the Red Cross team reaches its patient.
Madame Imad is 80 years old. She tested positive last week and her diabetes is complicating her condition. She needs to go to hospital, but there is an issue finding a bed for her.
The positivity rate across the country this past week has been at 21% (the 14-day rolling average).
That means the community spread of the virus is out of control. It needs to be at 5% before there is any chance of regaining a grip of the crisis.
Calls are made and they think space has been found at a hospital nearby.
Madame Imad is carried down the stairs as her daughter Sophie looks straight into our camera and pleads: “Show them that there are people dying before they reach the hospital.”
The elderly woman did make it to the hospital. But she was sent home again. There were no beds. Her family has told us her condition this weekend has worsened.
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Alexei Navalny supporters clash with police and ‘hundreds arrested’ as mass protests expected across Russia | World News
Hundreds of people have reportedly been detained as a series of demonstrations in support of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny begins across Russia.
The gatherings, which police have declared illegal, are the first by Mr Navalny’s supporters since he was arrested last weekend on his return to Moscow, after spending five months in Germany recovering from novichok poisoning.
Police detain a man in Moscow. Pic: AP
More than 200 people have been detained in central and eastern Russia because of the protests, according to monitoring group OVD-INFO, with more than 100 held in Moscow, according to a Reuters witness, the location for one of up to 70 marches this weekend.
There have been scuffles in the southeastern city of Khabarovsk, and videos also show people being taken away from a protest in Yakutsk, where people have been gathering in -50C temperatures, and one person lying on the ground, apparently injured, in Novosibirsk.
Other footage shows people being hit with batons in Orenburg and riot shields and tears gas being used in some cities.
Police detain a man in Khabarovsk during a protest against the jailing of Alexei Navalny. Pic: AP
Hundreds, possibly thousands, appear to have been taking part in rallies and marches in Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk.
There have also been reports that mobile phone and internet services in Russia have suffered outages as police
crack down on anti-Kremlin protesters.
Authorities sometimes interfere with communication networks to make it harder for protesters to get in touch with each other and the wider world online.
Protesters run away from police officers in Vladivostok,
Six journalists have been held in St Petersburg, according to Avtozaklive.
Mr Navalny, 44, who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics, blames Moscow for the attack that nearly killed him, although the Kremlin denies any involvement.
He is charged with breaking his bail conditions – and is facing a potential three-and-a half-year jail term if found guilty.
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Navalny supporters clash with Russian police
Protesters gathered in support of Mr Navalny in temperatures on -50C in Yakutsk. Pic: Ksenia Korshun/via REUTERS
Anyone who takes part faces charges of rioting, fines, problems at work, prison and even threats over child custody as the Russian state tries to crack down on the demonstrations, which could be the largest against Mr Putin since 2018.
Officials also enforced a crackdown in the run-up to the demonstrations, arresting members of Mr Navalny’s team, including his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.
They launched an investigation after young Navalny supporters flooded TikTok with anti-Putin videos, pushing for people to support the action this weekend and using the using the hashtags #freenavalny and #23Jan.
The content has been viewed more than 300 million times.
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TikTok videos in support of Navalny
Anger mounted against Mr Putin this week after Mr Navalny’s team released a documentary exposing a vast and opulent palace built by Russia’s leader on the Black Sea coast.
The programme claims the complex – 39 times larger than Monaco – cost £1bn to build and was funded through illicit money.
It is said to have a casino, an underground ice hockey complex and a vineyard.
More than 60 million people have now viewed the Russian-language video on YouTube within three days of it being published.
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Navalny calls for protests over his arrest
On Friday, ahead of the weekend of planned protests, Mr Navalny issued a statement saying he wanted it known that he had no plans to take his own life in prison.
The arrest of Mr Navalny has attracted widespread criticism from Western leaders, sparking new tensions in the already strained relationship with the US.
Despite the plans for the protests, Mr Putin’s grip on power appears solid, with the 68-year-old regularly recording approval ratings of more than 60%, many times higher than those of Mr Navalny.
Protesters attending a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow
‘Our kids are being brainwashed’
Eyewitness by Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent
The rally is not due to start until 2pm, but already here in Moscow, the police are making arrests and there are several hundred people around waiting.
It reminds me very much of the protests in the summer of 2019. There are huge numbers of press following each arrest. I haven’t seen any beatings yet, but the arrests are not pleasant.
Among those attending are Olga and Vladislav Sheglov, father and daughter.
Mr Sheglov told me: “I came here because I cannot live like this anymore, what they’re doing is not acceptable.
“I always tell myself we have the best country, but the worst government.”
His daughter Olga said: “Our kids are being brainwashed. You have families with low income and they have another view of politics.
Olga and Vladislav Sheglov
“When we saw the Putin’s palace investigation, we were so shocked. We used to vote for him, but this was the last straw. We believe 150%, a million percent that Navalny was poisoned.”
Another person at the protest, 16-year-old Yaroslavl, who we are not naming fully because he’s 16, said: “There’ll probably be more detentions than normal because it’s such a big day.
“I’m a bit concerned, but so many people have come together to defend their own opinion and to defend Russia.
“I was told at school not to come, that they might have extra lessons today, but I ignored them. And my parents were even more serious about me not coming, but I ignored them too.”
He said that today everyone went out not for Navalny, but for themselves, to fight for their rights.
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Alexei Navalny supporters clash with police as mass protests expected across Russia | World News
Police have clashed with protesters as series of demonstrations in support of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny begins across Russia.
The gatherings, which police have declared illegal, are the first by Mr Navalny’s supporters since he was arrested last weekend on his return to Moscow, after spending five months in Germany recovering from novichok poisoning.
Dozens of people have been detained ahead of the protests, according to a monitoring group, and there have already been scuffles in the southeastern city of Khabarovsk, the location for one of up to 70 marches this weekend.
Videos also show people being taken away from a protest in Yakutsk, where people have been gathering in -50C temperatures.
Alexei Navalny, pictured with his wife Yulia, was poisoned with novichok
Mr Navalny, 44, who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics, blames Moscow for the attack that nearly killed him, although the Kremlin denies any involvement.
He is charged with breaking his bail conditions – and is facing a potential three-and-a half-year jail term if found guilty.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Navalny supporters clash with Russian police
They face charges of rioting, fines, problems at work, prison and even threats over child custody as the Russian state tries to crack down on the demonstrations, which could be the largest against Mr Putin since 2018.
Officials also enforced a crackdown in the run-up to the demonstrations, arresting members of Mr Navalny’s team, including his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.
They have launched an investigation after young Navalny supporters flooded TikTok with anti-Putin videos, pushing for people to support the action this weekend and using the using the hashtags #freenavalny and #23Jan.
The content has been viewed more than 300 million times.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
TikTok videos in support of Navalny
Anger mounted against Mr Putin this week after Mr Navalny’s team released a documentary exposing a vast and opulent palace built by Russia’s leader on the Black Sea coast.
The programme claims the complex – 39 times larger than Monaco – cost £1bn to build and was funded through illicit money.
It is said to have a casino, an underground ice hockey complex and a vineyard.
More than 60 million people have now viewed the Russian-language video on YouTube within three days of it being published.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Navalny calls for protests over his arrest
On Friday, ahead of the weekend of planned protests, Mr Navalny issued a statement saying he wanted it known that he had no plans to take his own life in prison.
The arrest of Mr Navalny has attracted widespread criticism from Western leaders, sparking new tensions in the already strained relationship with the US.
Despite the plans for the protests, Mr Putin’s grip on power appears solid, with the 68-year-old regularly recording approval ratings of more than 60%, many times higher than those of Mr Navalny.
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