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SNPs for dual eligible beneficiaries make a difference in quality: hold down costs, improve quality of care for poor elderly.

Article Excerpt
The recent collapse of a major interstate bridge in Minnesota has forced this nation to take a closer look at its aging infrastructure. As each state scrambles to scrutinize the state of its crumbling bridges, roads, steam tunnels, aqueducts, and schools, the demand for funds to adequately maintain these resources will be in direct competition with monies needed to care for another aging problem--health care for the poor elderly.

For every state, Medicaid is growing faster than the rate of inflation. That cost is being driven by an aging population of poor people who consume an enormous amount of resources with end-of-life medical care and long-term nursing home care. At the heart of the issue is the fact that 15 percent of the people who qualify for Medicaid are over 65, yet they use 45 percent of all the Medicaid dollars.

To be eligible for Medicaid, an individual's annual income cannot exceed $10,000, and his or her personal assets must be less than $1,000. They are, by definition, known as "dual eligibles" because they are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid and, since 2006, Medicaid Part D for prescription drugs.

Sounds like comprehensive coverage, and it is. On the other hand,...