In part with my continuing series, "Red State America at Her Finest"
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=899943
Sweeping Medicaid cuts hit Missourians
Reuters
Jul. 1, 2005 - Fending off a late courtroom challenge, Missouri implemented sweeping cuts in Medicaid on Friday, reducing benefits so sharply that critics called the moves among the most severe in the nation.
The new Medicaid standards, championed by Missouri's new Republican Gov. Matt Blunt to avoid tax increases, trimmed Missouri's budget by $231 million, but are expected to cut more than 68,000 Missourians out of the Medicaid program over the next year.
Under the new standards, a single mother of two children is deemed ineligible if she makes more than $350 a month, for instance. Previously, the income line was drawn at $1,050 a month. An estimated 24,000 children are expected to lose their benefits, dental coverage is being cut for adults, and disabled people are losing coverage for crutches and other aids.
An analysis by the nonprofit Center on Budget Priorities and Policies said Missouri's Medicaid expenditures were already below the national norm before the cuts and the new program is among the harshest "that any state has ever instituted."
"It is pretty draconian," said Marc Cohan, director of litigation for the Welfare Law Center in New York, which filed a lawsuit against Missouri on Wednesday, along with the National Health Law Program in Washington. "Missouri has made a choice ... to balance the budget on the backs of the poor," Cohan said.
The suit alleges the state is rushing the cuts into effect and in the process cutting off people who should remain eligible. U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey denied a request for a temporary injunction on Thursday.
Besides Missouri, several other states are moving aggressively to rein in Medicaid spending and Congress is considering a plan to cut federal contributions to Medicaid by $10 billion over five years.
Missouri, which spends about $2 billion annually in state money on Medicaid, has defended its actions and calls the previous Medicaid level of benefits "unsustainable."
"We continue to provide a very generous Medicaid program," said Missouri Department of Social Services director Gary Sherman in a statement issued on Friday.
Copyright 2005 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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