MANDATE COPAY TO ALL SERVICES COVERED UNDER MEDICAID AND FOR THE NON-INSURED PUBLIC

Under our current Medicaid directives, all recipients of Medicaid services do not have a co-pay for all services rendered using Medicaid. As a healthcare professional, there are many instances where Medicaid or uninsured citizens go into Emergency Departments across the country and tie up essential personnel for simple problems that can be handled in a medical office and it is my belief that if they were required to have a small co-pay for services, it would greatly cut down on senseless visits to an ER, where each visit costs thousands of dollars. This petition is to ask for a $10 office co-pay and a $20 ER visit co-pay from everyone that does not have private insurance. Private insurances co-pay range from $20 for an office visit to $100 for an ER visit.