Missouri Senate Passes Wide-Ranging Health Care Bill, Including Revised Insure Missouri Program

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 02 May 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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The Missouri state Senate on Monday voted 30-4 to approve legislation that includes a program to cover 200,000 low- and middle-income state residents, the Kansas City Star reports. The "centerpiece" of the bill is a new version of the Insure Missouri program originally proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt (R).

The measure would provide health insurance for people ages 19 to 64 with incomes up to 250% of the federal poverty level. To qualify, state residents could not have access to affordable employer-sponsored coverage and must have been uninsured for at least six months. Deductibles would be based on a sliding scale with a maximum of $1,000 per year. People with incomes lower than 100% of the poverty level would not have to pay anything for the program. Employers could pay up to half of a beneficiary's deductible.

The bill also includes a wide range of initiatives intended to make consumers more aware of health care costs and to help them make informed decisions. The measure would offer a tax deduction for the cost of certain high-deductible insurance policies and encourage health insurers to publicly compare the quality and cost efficiency of health care providers in their networks. In addition, the legislation would establish an organization to publicly report on preventable medical errors at hospitals.

According to the legislation, the program would cost the state at least $40 million next year, but the majority of funding for the program would come from the federal government and special hospital taxes that would be used to leverage additional federal matching funds. The bill now moves to the House (Wagar, Kansas City Star, 4/28).

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