Jan. 8 2004  William F. Egerter Medicaid ID DK96934E

I was denied today for Medicaid transportation to my doctor (neurologist) appointment tomorrow. I had to cancel my appointment. This is not the first time that I was denied transportation benefits. Recently I was denied transportation to my physical therapist.  Suffolk County and the new county supervisor is under a great deal of pressure to reduce medicaid costs and that is why I always try to reduce my usage of transportation services doing things like getting my blood drawn at the same time as my doctor visits instead of making separate trips. One of the reasons cited today to deny me was because I have not used the service. In effect I was denied service because I did not use it often enough. I thought I was doing something good by increasing the time between appointments and the associated usage of transportation services, but it seems now that I am being punished for doing so.