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Medicaid Action Project
Update
April 25, 2005
SENATE COMMITTEE FINISHES BUDGET DELIBERATIONS SERIOUS CUTS TO HEALTH CARE FOR LOW INCOME MISSOURIANS REMAIN
The budget bills were passed today by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The Senate bills include some improvements compared to the House version, but there are still cuts:
1) Medicaid eligibility for people with disabilities and seniors - Senate Committee version set eligibility at 85% federal poverty limit (FPL) where the House version set eligibility at 81% FPL.
2) Health care for workers with disabilities who do not otherwise have access to affordable health care (MAWD) was cut by both the House and Senate. This means that unless there is an amendment on the Senate floor, the MAWD program will not be funded in any form.
3) Medicaid eligibility for low-income working parents - Senate Committee set eligibility at 50% FPL cutting about 37,000 people where the House set eligibility at 23% FPL cutting about 68,000 people.
4) Premiums for the CHIP kids have been lowered in the Senate Committee to a 1% premium for kids from 150-185% FPL, 3% from 185- 225% FPL, and 5% for
226 and above. The House had proposed a 5% premium on all families above 150% of poverty.
5) Non Medicaid Eligible (NME), personal attendant services for people with significant disabilities who do not qualify for Medicaid but still cannot afford to pay for services out of pocket, was funded by the House but the Senate Committee cut the program.
The budget bills now will be debated by the entire Senate. This means that there is still a chance for Senators to make changes to the budget before they send it to conference committee (where the House and Senate work out differences).
ACTION:
1) Call your state Senator and urge them to oppose budget cuts that will hurt Missourians with disabilities, seniors and working families. Not only will Medicaid cuts increase the ranks of the uninsured, but it will hurt our state as jobs and economic activity are lost. Urge them to support funding for the Consumer-Directed Non-Medicaid Eligible program.
You can look-up your Senator at
http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx.
2) Attend the Disability Rights Legislative Day in Jefferson City on April 25, 2005. Workshops are at 9:30AM and 11:30AM, with a march at 1PM and rally at 1:30PM. Wear red to show solidarity! This will be an opportune time to speak with legislators as the budget bills should be entering into conference committee towards the end of the week.
Correction: First I would like to thank those of you who read the action alerts. You passed the test by locating my errors. Last week in an action alert re: HB827, it was indicated that HB827 included the eligibility criteria of working 40 hrs/month minimum. This criteria is not in the bill.
Megan R. Schulz, MSW
Advocacy Coordinator
Paraquad
311 N. Lindbergh,
St. Louis, MO 63141
(314)567-1558, ext. 277 voice
(314)567-5552 TTY
(314)567-1559 fax
mschulz@paraquad.org
Fight Medicaid cuts! Attend the Disability Rights Legislative Day in Jefferson City on 4/27/05.
This email is from Paraquad, Inc.
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