Moral Majority

Missouri’s governor recently signed legislation that will cut nearly 100,000 people from the state’s Medicaid rolls (see NPR coverage here; editorial here). The cuts will limit Medicaid coverage to those who are living under 75% of the federal poverty guidelines, or about $587/month. Coverage for items such as wheelchairs, crutches, and oxygen will be eliminated for adults. It eliminated Missouri’s Medicaid buy-in program, which allowed people with disabilities to hold jobs and still receive Medicaid services. And plans are in the works to completely eliminate Medicaid in Missouri by 2008. Yet the governor still insists his state’s Medicaid coverage is “very generous.” For better or worse, Missouri has transformed itself into a laboratory for purposes of examining the effects of deep health care cuts. Some disability advocates are already planning on suing the state on Olmstead grounds. Olmstead was a Supreme Court decision stating that the ADA requires people to be served in the least restrictive environment. If Missouri’s Medicaid cuts force people into nursing homes, that could be an Olmstead violation. The state’s Republicans seem convinced that cutting Medicaid was necessary to keep taxes low and grow the economy. But I’ve wondered if they have considered this: if Missouri completely eliminates Medicaid, they will lose out on hundreds of millions in federal matching dollars. They may also be jeopardizing the jobs of thousands of people in the health care industry who currently serve Medicaid enrollees.
I also find it interesting that the blind are exempted from many of these cuts. That’s sure to lead to some nasty recriminations within the disability community.
The people of Missouri are about to find out just how compassionate their conservative leaders really are. I guess they can console themselves with the fact that their state is free from the scourge of gay marriage. If that sounds callous, it’s intended. They knew the ideologies of the people they elected. Now they can deal with the consequences.