By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
Gov. Jay Nixon came to Joplin on Tuesday to boost a proposal he said would provide health care to nearly 35,000 more Missourians without an increase in taxes.
Nixon toured parts of Freeman Hospital West, then praised the Missouri Hospital Association for an agreement that will bring more federal health-care funds to the state.
“This will take $52 million and turn it into $145 million without spending another dime of state funds,” Nixon said.
Click here to hear Gov. Nixon talk about a proposal to increase health-care coverage.
To take advantage of the opportunity, the Missouri General Assembly will need to increase the Medicaid eligibility threshold to 50 percent of the federal poverty level in the fiscal 2010 budget. Nixon said Missouri’s current eligibility threshold, at 20 percent, is much lower than that of most other states.
That change, plus $52.5 million contributed by the Missouri Hospital Association, would allow the state to draw down $93 million in additional health-care matching funds from the federal government. The combined funds would provide coverage for an additional 34,800 people in the state, Nixon said.
The Democratic governor said he hopes the General Assembly will agree to the change, citing “good communication” with the Republican-dominated House and Senate.
House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he has not yet seen the proposal.
“If it’s reasonable, we’ll be willing to look at it,” he said.
Nixon said the plan would benefit particularly working parents who are going without medical care, citing as an example a single mother with two children.
“Right now, she could only get coverage if she makes less than about $3,700 a year,” he said. “Under this, she could make about $9,155.”
Many of the working poor in Jasper and Newton counties who lack health coverage now turn to the Joplin Community Clinic.
More than 32,000 in the two counties are without health insurance, according to clinic statistics. That number is expected to grow in the economic downturn, with people losing their health coverage along with their jobs.
“We’re seeing an increase,” said Barbie Bilton, operations manager at the clinic. “We’ve especially noticed it in the last two months, but we haven’t tracked numbers to measure it yet.”
In 2007, doctors, nurses, dentists and other volunteers from the local medical community saw an average of 125 patients per week at the clinic.
Nixon said increasing the number of Missouri residents with health coverage would benefit those paying health-insurance premiums “by putting downward pressure on those costs.”
“This is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss,” he said.
The money pledged by the Missouri Hospital Association is to come from the funds the hospitals currently receive for providing uncompensated care to uninsured patients. Normally, Nixon said, those are patients who would end up in hospital emergency rooms, increasing health-care costs.
Those patients then would have access to primary care, according to a statement from Marc Smith, president of the Missouri Hospital Association, that was released by Nixon’s office.
“Too many Missourians don’t have access to the health care they need, and those who do have coverage are paying too much for it,” Smith said. “By using funds our hospitals receive for uncompensated care to provide coverage for more parents, we’ll help more Missourians access primary care physicians, decrease wait times in our emergency rooms and move our economy in the right direction.”
Nixon discussed the plan after a hospital tour conducted by Gary Duncan, Freeman Health System president, and talks with doctors on general surgery floors and in the emergency room.
The governor said he wants to get doctors and nurses involved in decision making on health care.
Eligibility
In a family of four, with two parents and two children, parents would be eligible for health coverage in Missouri if the household income is about $11,025 or less per year. Now, only those who make $4,410 or less are eligible, according to the governor’s office.
Joplin Metro
<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border="0">Governor touts plan to expand health care<font color="#ff0000"> w/ Gov. Nixon audio</font>
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