(St@teside Published June 22, 2007)

Missouri:

In May 2007, the Missouri General Assembly passed a reconfigured state Medicaid system, called MO HealthNet. Senate Bill 577 restores coverage and benefits to some of the people whose services were eliminated two years ago.

The legislation:

• Restores Medicaid coverage for about 4,000 workers with disabilities;
• Restores Medicaid coverage for 6,000 children who lost coverage because their parents had access to employer-sponsored health insurance;
• Restores some optional benefits in Medicaid, including dental and vision care, for adults;
• Restores SCHIP coverage to 20,000 children through revised income eligibility requirements;
• Offers cancer screenings and family planning services for about 90,000 women whose incomes make them ineligible for Medicaid ;
• Requires Medicaid officials to devise a plan to increase provider reimbursements to the maximum federal level within four years;
• Allows physicians to collect copayments from Medicaid beneficiaries;
• Requires state Medicaid officials to assign beneficiaries to a primary care location and enroll them in a health improvement plan;
• Establishes a pilot program in one rural area and one urban area of the state that allows workers to purchase employer-sponsored insurance subsidized by Medicaid; and
• Forms an 18-member committee responsible for the supervision of changes to the state Medicaid program.

Despite the expansions in coverage, critics said that the bill will not restore Medicaid coverage for the 100,000 adults who lost coverage in 2005 when income eligibility for Medicaid was reduced from 75 percent FPL to 22 percent FPL.