Failure Is Preferred
Well, I never expected Missouri to do the right thing with Medicaid Expansion. His Accidency and the circus clowns running Missouri benefit programs have not disappointed me.
After two months of accepting adults allowed into MO HealthNet due to voter-approved Medicaid Expansion, fewer than 21,000 adult Missourians have been added to the rolls.
It didn’t have to be this way…
But the experience of the newly eligible in those two states — an estimated 215,000 people in Oklahoma and 275,000 in Missouri — has differed dramatically. Oklahoma has enrolled over 210,000 people, while Missouri has enrolled fewer than 20,000.
The difference comes down to the approaches taken by the two states, both of which are Republican-led and resisted expanding Medicaid for years.
Once Oklahoma voters approved the expansion, it was quickly embraced: The legislature appropriated $164 million in the state budget to fund it. Applications opened this June, one month before the program began, and within a month, 113,000 people had been approved.
If Oklahoma can enroll 100,000 people a month, why can’t Missouri – a state with a greater population and more workers in the similar jobs?
Here’s the answer: Mike Parson and his former legislator cronies don’t give a damn about poor people or sick people. Incompetence at the Department of Social Services is encouraged. Having callers on hold for hours is good. Paying staff next to nothing weeds out the efficient workers. Failure by the state is the preferred outcome.
They perpetually shove their middle fingers at voters and the law. Just as they claim Donald Trump is our president, they ignore reality in Missouri. That’s Republican “leadership.”
The rest of the benefit numbers were weak too. Despite the fragile economy, the Temporary Assistance recipient total dropped, and, another 2% of the food stamp rolls disappeared. (And, remember that Missouri took away the food stamp pandemic bonus payments before they federal rules required that.)
Missouri Benefits
November 2021 November 2020
Temporary Assistance
Children 11,595 15,445
Adults 3,330 4,966
TOTAL 14,925 20,411
Payments $1,459,566 $1,989,946
Per Family $ 223.38 $ 230.99
Per Day $ 7.45 $ 7.70
MO HealthNet (Medicaid)
Enrolled 1,146,253 1,015,291
Covered 1,147,539 1,012,096
Cost $900,950,739 $791,566,574
Per Patient $ 785.12 $ 782.11
Managed Care 838,950 732,799
Premium $ 286.96 $ 286.79
Food Stamps
Participants 661,436 696,615
Benefits $111,226,423 $127,671,626
Per Person $ 168.16 $ 183.27
Per Meal $ 1.87 $ 2.04
MO HealthNet Adult Expansion
11/21
Enrolled 20,927
Covered 14,387
Cost $14,610,177
Per Patient $ 1,015.51
www.mo.dss/re
Boy oh boy, it’s a great thing food prices have dropped by almost 10% in the past year…wait, food prices have been going up?
The federal government recalculated food stamp benefits, effective in October 2021. The typical family ought to have received about 5% to 6% more in benefits. Yet, here in Missouri…
Glenn