Donna Shalala, former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration, criticizes Congress and the White House for providing too little financial assistance too late to victims of Hurricane Katrina, thereby causing irreversible medical problems and economic difficulties for the region. In a commentary in the Sept. 20 issue of JAMA, Shalala, along with Jeanne Lambrew of George Washington University School of Public Health, write that the $2 billion in federal help fell far short of providing health care for the 3 million hurricane victims who needed it, and further aid may not be able to quickly reduce the higher suicide and death rates that have occurred in Katrina’s aftermath. The delay in the assistance may also have stalled the economic recovery of the gulf states. President Bush could have facilitated access to care by accelerating efforts to keep doctors in the area, and HHS could have redirected Medicaid hospital payments to other facilities, according to Shalala and Lambrew. They call for a “permanent, emergency Medicaid authority” to fund care for all individuals during a crisis. But the only true solution to the policy problems demonstrated during Hurricane Katrina, they write, “is to reform the health system, making it accessible, affordable, and quality-oriented for all.”
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