Gubernatorial candidate Blunt touts health-care reforms

Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Blunt outlined Thursday his plan for improving medical care in Missouri at a news conference at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Topping his list of needed health-care reforms is getting a handle on frivolous lawsuits which drive up the cost of malpractice insurance premiums.

In March 2003 the American Medical Association included Missouri among 18 states facing a medical liability crisis, Blunt noted.

Blunt said that the average cost for malpractice insurance in Missouri is $38,000; in Nebraska it's $10,000. He said the insurance industry may bear some of the blame for the high costs, but he believes that frivolous lawsuits are more responsible.

"I don't rule out the need for insurance reform," Blunt said. "But I feel the primary culprit is the expensive and frivolous litigation."

Blunt said that frivolous lawsuits are keeping major insurance companies from doing business in Missouri; only about three are left, he said.

Reoccurring problemDr. Charles Cozean, an ophthalmologist at Southeast Hospital, agrees. A few years ago, he said, before the state's revenue crisis, there was better management and fewer instances of medical liability.

"Now we have a liability problem that will not go away," Cozean said.

Other points of Blunt's plan include better management of Medicaid along with encouraging more doctors to participate in it, saving money the state spends on prescription drugs and being proactive in encouraging better health habits.

Blunt said the technology is available for the state to make sure those who apply for Medicaid are actually eligible. He said it's also important to encourage more doctors to participate in Medicaid by bridging the gap between the doctors' actual costs and what Medicaid reimburses them.

The state also needs to do a better job of buying prescription drugs, Blunt said. Currently the state spends $933 million a year in prescription drug benefits for state employees, prison inmates and employees at the state's universities all on different health-care plans.

"I'm calling for consolidation under one contract to maximize our purchasing power," Blunt said.

Blunt also outlined his hope to cut down on the overuse of the hospital emergency rooms throughout the state by making other options available to consumers, such as a hotline for a patient to call to talk to a nurse and determine if his problem is truly an emergency. Overuse of emergency room visits drives up hospital costs, he said.

Being proactive in health care, Blunt said, means educating Missouri children about the effects of obesity, smoking and alcohol use. Missouri's children should be encouraged to develop good health habits in schools, he said.

Blunt was especially critical of the fact that Missouri has done nothing to educate children about the effects of smoking, and nothing to help smokers kick the habit, despite getting a large settlement from the federal lawsuit against the tobacco companies.

"Taxpayers in the state get upset when specific revenue sources end up getting spent by other parts of the government," he said.

In 2001, he said, the legislature appropriated $22 million of the tobacco settlement money for tobacco use prevention efforts and Gov. Bob Holden withheld all of it.

Blunt's health care plan is the fifth major policy initiative he has proposed since becoming a candidate for governor. For more information interested persons can access his Web site at www.MattBlunt.com.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

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