State Medicaid Watch: Missouri

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Administration officials estimated that nearly 90,000 Missourians would be removed from Medicaid coverage from the budget plan Gov. Matt Blunt proposed Wednesday night. Eligibility cuts would be extended to adults, older residents and those with disabilities. Under the plan, adults would have to earn an income that is 30 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible, compared to the current 75 percent mark. A family of three, for example, could earn no more than $4,701 annually — instead of the current $11,752 — for the parent to qualify for health care.

At least 60,000 adults are expected to be affected, with more than 20,000 being eliminated from Medicaid pay. Likewise, 15,000 elderly individuals across the state who are currently receiving Social Security would lose Medicaid.

Blunt also plans to do away with Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities. The program provides coverage for employed persons with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 64. Eliminating the program will mean that a majority of people participating in the program will lose their coverage, despite being employed. Others will either be moved into another Medicaid category or to a spend-down program.

Eliminating Medicaid coverage for workers with disabilities is very bad news; that coverage is often what makes it possible for people with disabilities, who need medical insurance the market won't provide, to go to work.