Missouri fails to fulfill Medicaid reporting law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's social services agency has failed to publish a list of businesses whose workers are on Medicaid — a violation of both a state law and gubernatorial order.

But the department claims that naming the employers would have violated a federal regulation.

In 2006, Gov. Matt Blunt ordered the department to produce a report listing each employer that has 50 or more employees or their families members on the government-run Medicaid health care program. A 2007 law ordered the same thing.

The Department of Social Services recently released its first quarterly report. But it includes only general numbers and percentages.

A department spokeswoman says it couldn't list businesses by name because it used a labor department database that requires confidentiality.