Add revenue for health care

To the editor:

The disabled, their families and health-care workers were stunned by Gov. Matt Blunt's Jan. 26 proposal to make drastic cuts to Medicaid and mental-health treatment. Approximately $632 million would be cut if the governor's proposals are approved by the legislature. I am sensitive to the challenges the new administration faces and understand our state's constitutional requirement for a balanced budget, but it is hard for me to understand why our state budget should be balanced on the back of those who are most in need of help.

We could choose to increase our income, as other states have done. We could maintain health care for thousands by taking some simple measures such as enacting a higher excise fee on alcohol. We have not increased this fee in more than 30 years. We could raise the meager tax we charge on tobacco products. Missouri has one of the lowest tobacco tax rates in the nation. We could also close tax loopholes that unfairly favor large, out-of-state corporations.

With one party more or less holding all the cards this year, gridlock should not be a problem. Helping people who have no chance of getting health care on their own is doable if our elected officials will just choose to do it.

CYNTHIA KEELE, Executive Director, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Missouri, Jefferson City, Mo.