House Passes Bill to Eliminate Medicaid

On Thursday, April 7, the Missouri House of Representatives passed legislation which makes sweeping changes to various health care and social services programs and eliminates the current Medicaid program by June 30, 2008. SB 539 passed in the House by a vote of 89-69.

Ignoring pleas from the elderly, disabled and working poor, the General Assembly rejected a series of amendments to save components of the Medicaid program. SB 539 repeals much of the state’s legal obligation to provide certain Medicaid services and health coverage for certain groups. The legislation repeals the state of Missouri’s legal obligation to provide coverage for pregnant women up to 185% of the federal poverty level. After legislation was enacted in 1993 to increase coverage for pregnant women from 133% to 185% of the federal poverty level, abortions in Missouri declined by 1,558 in 1994.

Rep. Sue Schoemehl (D-St. Louis County), a member of Queen of All Saints in Oakville, offered an amendment to SB 539 which stated that if abortions rose by 10% in Missouri as a result of SB 539, then the state would mandate coverage for pregnant women back to 185% of the federal poverty level. Rep. Rachel Bringer (D-Palmyra) also offered a similar amendment. Both amendments were voted down in the House.

“As our church leaders have pointed out, increased access to health care has led to the largest drop in abortions since Roe v. Wade. This bill decreases women’s health care and will put the lives of many unborn at risk. This is one reason I cannot vote for this bill,” said Rep. Sue Schoemehl.

Mike Hoey, the assistant director of the Missouri Catholic Conference, questioned why Missouri could make legal commitments to other priorities like public schools and not do so for a pro-life program. “Our we more pro-public school than pro-life? I would hope we could be both,” he said.

SB 539 calls for the end of the current Medicaid program by June 20, 2008. A legislative commission will be created this summer to present recommendations for an alternative system by Jan. 1, 2006. However there is no guarantee that a new system will be in place before the current Medicaid program expires.

As a result of separate proposed budget cuts, parents will only be eligible for Medicaid at about twenty-two percent of the federal poverty level. That means that a single mother with two children could earn no more than $3,540 annually to qualify. Only three states have lower qualifying levels. This would eventually take over 69,000 parents off of Medicaid. In all over 120,000 persons could lose health coverage due to the passage of SB 539 and the proposed budget cuts. Services, such as podiatry and dental care will be eliminated for most adults who still retain Medicaid coverage.

Over 14,000 elderly or disabled people will be eliminated from Medicaid whose income exceeds seventy-five percent of the federal poverty level. This means an individual could not make more than $579.00 a month or $869.00 a month for a couple. Critics of the bill are concerned that this will make it harder for the elderly or disabled to be able to live independently forcing them into nursing homes.

SB 539 will also end adoption subsidies for parents who adopt foster children if parents earn more than twice the poverty rate or $38,700 for a family of four. Critics believe that this will decrease the number of adoptions in Missouri and increase the number of children trapped in the foster care system.

Hoey said, “Medicaid needs reforming, but in too many instances the legislature has chosen not to prune the tree but to chop it down.”

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