Couple sues for restoration of Medicaid coverage for eyeglasses

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis couple and another Missourian have sued the state for restoration of Medicaid coverage of prescription eyeglasses, challenging last year's cuts meant to help balance Missouri's budget.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in St. Louis Circuit Court, follows a local judge's August ruling in a similar lawsuit that the state essentially had to restore dental coverage to Missouri's Medicaid-eligible adults.

Willie Mae Fisher, her husband James Fisher, and a third Medicaid recipient are plaintiffs in the latest suit. A court hearing is set for Feb. 19, eight days before the $600,000 cut imposed last July is to become permanent, said Thomas Kennedy, a lawyer for plaintiffs in both suits.

Kennedy said that the same law that restored dental coverage also required coverage of prescription glasses.

Fisher, 57, once worked as a nurse and uses two old pairs of eyeglasses -- one set over the other -- to read, reflecting her dire need of glasses, said her sister, Lillie Mae Webb.

Medicaid still pays for eye exams, but the number of people seeking them has dropped by nearly half since July, presumably because people see little use in getting a prescription for glasses they cannot afford, the plaintiffs' lawyers said.

A spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office is defending the state, declined comment on the latest lawsuit.