Blunt visits Cross Trails to promote Healthnet plan

Gov. Matt Blunt visited Cross Trails Medical Center Thursday, the morning after he delivered his State of the State address calling for Medicaid reform.

During his visit, Blunt announced he is seeking legislative approval for $1.2 million to expand Cross Trails this year. He said the money reaffirms his support for Federally Qualified Health Centers, like Cross Trails, which serve low-income patients of all ages in need of medical and dental care.

He also promoted his Healthnet program, proposed to replace the state's Medicaid system. Healthnet, he said, will focus more on preventive measures than previous plans did. Blunt is asking for $57.6 million more for the program Medicaid than in 2006.

"I'm promising improved access to affordable health care for every Missourian and care for the most vulnerable," he said. "This is not a minor reform. This is an entire new system.

"It will empower participants to act as participants, not just recipients, and it will promote prevention and wellness."

The plan hinges on something Blunt calls a first in state history: access to primary and preventive care for every Medicaid participant.

To do this, the Healthnet plan will encourage recipients to secure what Blunt is calling "a health-care home." The health-care home would typically be a primary care physician who would develop a relationship with the patient and steer him or her toward preventive treatments avoiding costly emergency room visits.

This, said Blunt, allows "the physician to make the first health-care contact the best health-care decision."

Blunt's plan also asks the legislature to cut the franchise tax for businesses that provide health care for 50 percent of employees, a change which would cost the state $14 million. It also calls for relaxation of laws preventing employees from transferring insurance when they switch jobs and allowing employers and employees to pay insurance premiums with tax-free dollars.

In a move to provide health care for some of the 700,000 Missourians who don't have it, Blunt recommends pooling the purchasing power of the uninsured to buy coverage.

Cross Trails CEO Vicki Smith said she appreciates Blunt's emphasis on individual responsibility for health.

"We're very excited about it. The words he used -- empowerment and responsibility of patients in health care -- are words we've used since we started," she said.

Smith said chronic conditions are too often allowed to spiral into emergencies. "Especially when we first opened doors, we had diabetics who knew they had diabetes but had not gone to the doctor since the diagnosis because they couldn't afford the cost of medication."

Smith said a large chunk of the promised money will go toward renovating Cross Trails' clinic in Advance, Mo., where she hopes to add dental services.

The extra money for Cross Trails is part of $60 million in surplus state tax money Blunt wants legislators to approve for expansion at 110 community health centers, which he says serve 300,000 Missourians.

The $60 million comes from about $600 million in surplus funds in the state treasury. State lawmakers must approve the spending.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

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