Mo. senators endorse health-care plan

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State senators have endorsed an expansion of government-funded health care for low-income Missourians, embracing the concept -- if not the form -- of a plan put forth by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Like Nixon's health care proposal, the Senate legislation endorsed Wednesday seeks initially to provide health coverage to about 35,000 low-income parents earning up to 50 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $9,155 a year for a family of three.

Nixon proposed to cover them with a straight expansion of Medicaid, the government-run health care program for the poor.

The bill by Sen. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, would enroll people in a program called "Show-Me Health Coverage," which would be paid for by the state but provide some different benefits than Medicaid.

For example, Dempsey's proposal would not cover nonemergency transportation to doctor's visits, as Medicaid does, but would go further than Medicaid in covering some therapies.

Both plans rely on hospital taxes and federal dollars to cover the expanded pool of low-income parents.

Dempsey's plan would limit people's participation to three years, with an extension of up to two more years if they are enrolled in educational courses.

His bill also has provisions that, subject to funding, could provide government-subsidized insurance to a much larger pool of people earning up to 225 percent of the poverty level, or $41,198 for a family of three.

That section is similar to the Insure Missouri plan embraced last year by former governor Matt Blunt in that it would require participants to pay a monthly premium and contribute up to $1,000 to their own health savings accounts.

Dempsey's legislation needs a second Senate vote to move to the House.

Nixon spokesman Jack Cardetti gave a lukewarm endorsement of the Senate bill.

"The governor believes expanding health care coverage is a key to helping turn this economy around," Cardetti said. "He believes the Senate today took an initial step that will help build the framework for making progress on this important issue."

The category of people targeted for coverage under Nixon's proposal had been part of Missouri's Medicaid program until 2005, when Republican-led budget cuts eliminated their benefits by making it more difficult to qualify for the program.

At the time, Missouri had about 1 million people on Medicaid and other government health care programs, including about 190,000 custodial parents. Missouri currently covers about 842,000 people, including 92,000 custodial parents.

Meanwhile, the number of Missourians lacking health insurance has risen since 2005.

Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 729,000 Missourians -- or 12.6 percent of the population -- lacked health insurance in 2007. That was up from the 670,000 who lacked insurance in 2004, before the Medicaid cuts were made.

Families USA, which advocates for affordable health care, estimated Wednesday that 1.5 million Missourians were uninsured for some period of time in 2007-2008.

Some Republican senators warned Wednesday that Dempsey's initiative could lead to a future significant expansion of government involvement in health insurance.

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, compared the health care proposal to a Chia Pet seed. He said would it grow like the plant into a lush creation -- green for the color of money.

"It will grow. I promise you, it will grow," Crowell said during debate.

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Health care bill is SB306.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov