South Carolina Pushes for Medicaid Overhaul After Man Denied Breast Cancer Coverage

Article here. Excerpt:

'South Carolina health officials are petitioning the federal government to overhaul its "discriminatory" Medicaid rules after a local construction worker was denied coverage for breast cancer treatments because he is a man.

Raymond Johnson, 26, found out about his cancer last month. He visited the emergency room after a pain in his chest became unbearable. He already knew he had a lump there but, "being a male," assumed it was a cyst.

When the tests came back, "I found out I had cancer."
...
But when Johnson, who is uninsured, applied for Medicaid, he was swiftly rejected. The reason? He is a man.

"To me it's really dumb. ... It's not as common as a woman having breast cancer, but we do have it," Johnson said.

The state of South Carolina agrees with him. Since Johnson applied for coverage, the state Department of Health and Human Services has been in talks with federal Medicaid officials about the possibility of changing the rules. Tony Keck, director of the state health department, said in a statement that the federal position is "discriminatory" and urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to show some flexibility.'