Max Baucus: “there are an estimated 1.5 million individuals who survived Hurricane Katrina who are now scattered across the Nation.…”

“there are an estimated 1.5 million individuals who survived Hurricane Katrina who are now scattered across the Nation. The stories of what they have already experienced are harrowing. They are suffering deprivation beyond what many of us could imagine, and their needs, especially for health care services, are greater than most of us hope to ever know. Today I come to the floor to share with you a few stories of those survivors and the problems they are facing in getting the health care services they need. Many are uninsured and without means to pay for food and shelter, let alone prescription drugs or a doctor's visit. As I said when I spoke on the Senate floor on Wednesday night, one in three survivors who have applied for Medicaid in Louisiana have been turned away. Why? Because they do not meet Medicaid's traditional eligibility criteria. These people need help. The Grassley-Baucus bill would deliver it to them without delay, without uncertainty. As we consider moving forward on this legislation, I remind my colleagues of the faces of those we are trying to help. The survivors of Hurricane Katrina are people such as Eugene Johnson, age 57, a retired plumber and a diabetic who lost his home to Katrina. He, his wife, and four of his five children have moved from shelter to shelter. He needs eye medicine that he left behind in New Orleans, but he cannot afford the $119 cost of the prescription. Without his medicine, he will go blind.…”