GOVERNOR BLUNT'S CUTS . . .

PUNISH THE WORKING POOR:  The Governor's budget would take Medicaid eligibility down to 30% of the federal poverty level or $392 per month ($4,704 per year) for a family of three. 

61,864 working parents would lose health coverage.  Working parents who need prescriptions or other routine health care will be forced to choose between work and health insurance.  Some parents will be forced to give up work in order to keep health coverage.

HARM MISSOURI'S ECONOMY

• According to an analysis by economists at St. Louis University's John Cook School of Business, federal Medicaid matching funds to the State of Missouri generated over $5.8 billion in economic activity.
• The study also found that federal Medicaid funds supported 79,892 jobs in the state, and increased wages and other income earned by Missourians by $2.8 billion, which generate $211 million in tax revenues (based on those wages)
• The proposed Medicaid eligibility and service cuts will deny Missouri more than $379 million in federal Medicaid funds
• Missouri will lose about 9460 jobs and $689 million in economic activity

HIT THOSE WHO CAN'T FIGHT BACK--Low-Income Elderly and Disabled Missourians.

Under Blunt's plan, elderly and disabled individuals whose income is between $579 and $776 will now have to pay a portion of their medical bills each month, before they get Medicaid coverage.  The change will also affect elderly and disabled couples whose income is between $869 and $1041

Blunt's budget proposal will impose new bills on single individuals with monthly incomes above $579 and couples with monthly incomes above $869.  These low income seniors and disabled will be struggling even more, having to choose between medical care and rent, prescriptions and food, diabetic supplies and electricity.

FORCE DISABLED PEOPLE AWAY FROM THE WORKPLACE by eliminating Medicaid for Workers with Disabilities (MAWD).  The State estimates that more than 9529 working disabled people will lose coverage as a result of eliminating the MAWD. 

Without MAWD, disabled individuals who wish to return to work will have to choose between employment and health insurance.  To keep access to health care, disabled people will have to give up even part-time work.  They will be more dependent upon public benefits programs. 

IGNORE TEMPORARY DISABILITIES.  The governor wants to eliminate the medical assistance program for recipients of General Relief benefits causing 3046 people to lose their health coverage. 

Individuals are only eligible for this program if the state has determined them to be disabled or unemployable for ninety days or more. 

General Relief helps people receive medically necessary health care which they could not afford any other way.  It also provides access to treatment that may make sure that temporary disabilities do not become permanent.

WITHHOLD TREATMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE MENTALLY ILL.  The proposed requires prior reauthorization of psychotropic drugs for people with mental illness.  This requirement will make it difficult for persons with mental illness to get medically necessary and life-sustaining medications.  It will make it harder for doctors who take Medicaid to treat patients—and it's already difficult to find psychiatrists who accept Medicaid.  While the budget indicates that this new prior authorization requirement would save $3.8 million—the cuts risk denying lifesaving care to those with mental illnesses.

The proposed cuts would weaken the financial stability of hospitals, clinics and doctors driving up health care costs for everyone.

• The proposed Medicaid budget shifts costs to health care providers, employers, and individuals even while eliminating the benefits of federal matching funds flowing into the state.
• The Division of Medical Services has estimated that the cost of the uninsured in Missouri was $305 million in 2001—these cuts will greatly increase those costs.
• The St. Louis Regional Health Commission (RHC) has documented the uncompensated care burden that results when people become uninsured, finding that hospitals cover these losses by increasing their charges and contracted rates with private insurers who in turn pass the additional costs onto area employers.  Rural communities—who struggle to fund services—will be even harder hit.
• In a 2004 commentary, the Missouri Hospital Association warned lawmakers that  "Wrong decisions now will have devastating effects on Missouri's health care . . . If the ranks of our uninsured swell, more children and adults will suffer from preventable diseases.  If these vulnerable groups are denied insurance coverage, they will seek care in the already overwhelmed emergency departments . . . or they will not seek help at all, and some will die because of a lack of timely care."