Charlotte Green and her husband, together, have an $1,100 a month prescription drug bill.

The Natchez residents make about $850 a month and have relied on Medicaid to pay for the medicines. But as of July 1, they and 65,000 other Mississippi residents won’t have those benefits.

&uot;It’s scary,&uot; said Green, who said she and her husband tried to apply for Medicare benefits but were turned down. &uot;What are people going to do?&uot;

As the Greens struggle to determine how to make ends meet and keep their needed medications, conservative lawmakers met Wednesday to discuss ways to defuse growing concerns over the plan to remove the thousands of people from the Medicaid rolls.

The lawmakers’ discussion came only hours after Gov. Haley Barbour walked past protesters at the state Capitol without speaking to them.

Several legislators said they want Barbour to let them vote to delay removing the 65,000 people from Medicaid. The moneysaving change is now scheduled to happen July 1, the beginning of the new state budget year.

Sen. Tom King, R-Petal, said too many patients are scared and confused about whether they can get prescription drug coverage after leaving Medicaid.

&uot;We cannot turn out backs on these people,&uot; King said. &uot;These are our grandmothers, our great aunts, our grandfathers. These are people in the greatest generation.&uot;

Barbour said Wednesday that people losing Medicaid coverage should qualify for programs that could help them get any of 1,350 prescription drugs free or for no more than $15 a month.

Green said she and her husband were sent a letter notifying them of the changes, along with a list of organizations that could help, including clinics in Fayette and Port Gibson. But officials at the Port Gibson clinic told the couple even they were not sure how to handle all of the requests.

&uot;We’re used to paying $3 copay for each of these medications,&uot; she said.

Not being able to pay for them is &uot;going to be like going cold turkey.&uot;

Top lawmakers say they’re working behind the scenes to craft a delay in Medicaid changes, after being swamped with complaints that thousands of people will suffer if removed from the program.

Some say there at least needs to be time to spread the word about free or discounted drugs.

House Public Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, was among the officials meeting privately Wednesday with members of the House Conservative Coalition to discuss a possible delay.

After the meeting, Holland said he wants to keep all 65,000 people on Medicaid.

But short of that, he at least wants to delay their removal until at least Dec. 31.

He said he’d ask Barbour to let lawmakers vote on the matter. The governor is expected to call a special session late this month so legislators can authorize the Department of Human Services to stay in business beyond June 30.

Holland, who’s not a member of the Conservative Coalition, said many of the lawmakers in the group are getting calls from constituents worried about Medicaid changes.

&uot;I think they’re realizing this may not be compassionate conservatism,&uot; Holland said.

Barbour said Wednesday morning that no lawmakers had formally asked him for a delay in Medicaid changes.

During the regular legislative session that ended in early May, lawmakers – at Barbour’s request – voted to remove people from Medicaid to save money in a tight budget year.

Medicaid is funded by federal and state dollars and provides health coverage for the needy, aged, blind and disabled and for low-income families with children.

Officials say 60,000 of the people being removed from Medicaid will be covered by Medicare, which is fully funded by the federal government. Barbour says he’s seeking federal permission to let Medicaid keep covering those who don’t immediately qualify for Medicare.

The big concern among many patients who are going to the federal program is that they’ll get far less prescription-drug coverage.

About 25 people protested Medicaid cuts in a Capitol hallway Wednesday morning as Barbour left a ceremony for a lawsuit-limitations bill signing. One of the signs said: &uot;Lord, forgive Haley for he knoweth not what he does.&uot;

Capitol police and Highway Patrol officers formed a line between the protesters and the governor, and Barbour didn’t stop to talk. Minutes earlier, he had told reporters he didn’t want to be &uot;a prop in a protest.&uot;

&uot;You know, I was born at night … but not last night,&uot; Barbour said.

He said he’d be willing to talk to people who are upset about Medicaid changes, but none had called his office to try to set up a meeting.

People protesting in the hallway contradicted that. Del Lang of Little Rock said Barbour &uot;won’t even consider giving us an appointment.&uot;

&uot;This governor, I’m sorry, he’s not helping nobody. He’s killing thousands of people,&uot; said Lang, whose fiancee is among those scheduled to lose Medicaid coverage July 1.

It was the second time in two weeks that health advocates have protested Medicaid cuts. On June 8, about 60 people packed into a lobby of Barbour’s suite of offices in the Woolfolk building near the Capitol. They were locked out of the suite, and police officers stood guard at the doors.