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Source: Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.迷你倉Oct. 12--PEORIA -- The stigma about Medicaid is about to end, according to a state official who coordinates medical assistance programs for people with HIV or AIDS.Medicaid, unlike Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly, is usually typecast as low-quality public health care for the poor, mainly single women with children.People think Medicaid is a sub-par program, said Jeffrey Maras of the Illinois Department of Public Health. "Not anymore."Illinois' expanded Medicaid program, a component of the Affordable Care Act, must meet the same health care coverage requirements as the standard, or benchmark, plan offered in the new online health insurance marketplaces.Doctors' attitudes about the program are in for an adjustment, also, Maras said."Many doctors don't realize Medicaid reimbursements have increased," he said Thursday night at the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Peoria. "Sheer economics will force doctors to realize there's a benefit."Maras led a workshop on what the health care reform law, also known as Obamacare, means for people living with HIV or AIDS. His focus was on the medical care and prescription drug assistance programs available for the uninsured and under-insured through the federally funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.Though many more people, including single adults with no children, will become insured under the Affordable Care Act, the Ryan White programs will continue, Maras told about 35 people at the workshop. But it will adapt to fill in the gaps, such as financial assistance for medical transportation, deductibles or co-pays.Plans in Ill儲存nois' online insurance marketplace are required to cover only one category of retro-viral drugs necessary to control the chronic disease. The Ryan White programs also cover other drugs that may require prior approval from insurance plans.Maras discounted widespread concerns about technical glitches in the launch of the online marketplaces where people can shop and compare health insurance plans. However, he urged people with AIDS or HIV to wait until early November to enroll in an insurance plan. By then, he and the staff of the state's Ryan White AIDS/HIV programs will have analyzed some 4,000 insurance plans in the online marketplaces and contacted AIDS patients about the plans that coordinate best with the Ryan White assistance programs.For coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2014, the deadline to enroll is Dec. 15. The enrollment period ends in March 2014.About 30 percent of the 575 clients of the Heart of Illinois HIV/AIDS Center don't have insurance, according to Pam Briggs, director of the center."The Affordable Care Act will have a great impact here," she said.The center's eight case managers also are in training to act of in-person counselors, certified to help people enroll in insurance plans through the marketplace.FYIFor more information about the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, contact GetCoveredIllinois.gov, (866) 311-1119, or .healthcare.gov, (800) 318-2596.Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or padams@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Journal Star (Peoria, Ill.) Visit the Journal Star (Peoria, Ill.) at .PJStar.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage