Medicaid in New York state: The quandary of finding specialists. “In August, a pediatrician finds the heart murmur in the 10-year-old girl on Medicaid, but cannot tell if the problem is minor or life-threatening. Ms. Ayuso calls Jacobi Medical Center, where a clerk tells her that the wait to see a cardiologist will be four months.
Later, Ms. Ayuso calls Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center for a middle-aged woman with a lump in her breast. She accepts a mammogram appointment three months away.
A month later, things are worse. On Jacobi’s appointment line, a recording tells Ms. Ayuso she will wait 100 minutes on hold.”
