Urge 'no' vote on Medicaid changes

To the editor:

In a matter of days the U.S. House of Representatives will be considering some changes in Medicaid that could hurt many people here in Missouri. If five years ago you helped your family by paying for a grandchild's first year of college or your daughter's down payment for a house, you could be denied needed long-term care. If you have a stroke or other health crisis that exhausts you personal savings and requires expensive nursing care, you would be penalized. Under these changes, you would be denied care, because the presumption would be that you helped your family in order to fool Medicaid. You would be presumed guilty and denied care.

Please take the time to call U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson today at 335-0101 and ask her to vote no on the budget bill. It would harm the health and long-term care of some of the most vulnerable Americans.

THOMAS E. WIGINTON, Jackson