New Study Highlights Deficiencies Of Governor Blunt's Proposal To Provide Health Coverage To Uninsured Missourians, USA

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 16 Jan 2008 - 14:00 PST

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A report released found that Governor Blunt's proposal to provide health coverage to uninsured Missourians would fail to restore coverage to many of those who lost it after the dramatic Medicaid cuts in 2005 and would cover too few of the 700,000 uninsured Missourians who desperately need coverage.

The report, released by the consumer health organization Families USA, examined how the governor's proposal would affect vulnerable, uninsured Missourians, as well as the pitfalls of his approach. The report found that Governor Blunt's proposal is an inadequate, piecemeal plan that addresses only a portion of the individuals who lost coverage when he dramatically cut the program several years ago.

In 2005, more than 100,000 Missourians lost their Medicaid coverage, and more than 300,000 people had their benefits severely reduced as a result of Governor Blunt's changes to the Medicaid program. Not only were these cuts some of the largest by any state in the entire history of the Medicaid program, but they had serious implications for low-income parents, seniors and people with disabilities, working people with disabilities, people leaving welfare, and children.

Of all these groups, low-income parents were the hardest hit, with approximately 68,000 losing coverage between 2005 and 2006. The state once provided Medicaid to working parents with incomes up to 100 percent of poverty, but by 2006, it had drastically cut eligibility for this group to only 40 percent of poverty (approximately $6,800 for a family of three). This dropped the state's ranking to 41st in terms of working parents' eligibility for Medicaid.

Governor Blunt's proposal leaves out non-working parents and people with disabilities completely, and working parents and other adults would receive only some of the benefits they would have been entitled to in Medicaid before the 2005 cuts.

"At a time when many states are expanding Medicaid and taking great strides at covering their uninsured populations, Governor Blunt's proposal is only a Band-Aid for a problem that needs urgent care. Far from an heroic expansion of coverage to the uninsured, the governor's proposal does not even repair the damage the governor himself caused by massively cutting Medicaid in 2005," said Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA.

The report identifies the following key concerns with the governor's proposal:

- The eligibility criteria ignore many low-income adults, including adults who were previously covered under Medicaid.
- The coverage offered is missing key benefits that low-income Missourians need.
- The cost-sharing is too high for many low-income Missourians.
- The plan is built on shaky financing mechanisms that may do more harm than good to Missouri's uninsured.

"Governor Blunt's approach to reforming Medicaid has brought devastation to tens of thousands of Missourians," said Pollack. "Any new proposals to expand health coverage in Missouri should work to restore adequate coverage to those who lost it and ensure new high-quality, affordable coverage options to the uninsured."

Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Families USA