Kinder says Medicaid needs to be revamped

Missouri should restructure its Medicaid program to encourage healthy habits and provide aid only to the truly needy, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said Thursday.

The state can't afford to allow middle-class Missourians to transfer or hide family assets so Medicaid will pay for a relative's nursing home care, Kinder told a luncheon meeting of the Cape West Rotary Club at the Elks Lodge. About 40 people attended the meeting.

Kinder said the state already has enacted budget restraints on Medicaid that took 90,000 people off the rolls of the government's medical insurance program.

He said the legislature already has set the stage to restructure Medicaid within the next two years.

More than 1 million people in the state currently are on the Medicaid rolls.

While he wants to contain Medicaid spending, Kinder said the state's general revenue picture continues to improve.

General revenue is up about 4.9 percent this fiscal year and sales taxes are up 3.6 percent, Kinder said.

The state also has seen increases in personal and corporate income taxes, reflecting a healthier economy, he said.

As a result, he expects lawmakers early next year will restore some of the budget cuts made in the last legislative session.

The Cape Girardeau Republican said Gov. Matt Blunt's administration supports efforts to secure the remaining state funding needed to retire bonds for the River Campus arts school project.

Kinder praised tort reform, enacted by the Republican-led administration and legislature. He said the new law helped convince Chrysler to spend as much as $1.5 billion to retool its Wentzville, Mo., auto plant.