What does Mike Parson – and his administration – have against kids?
Oh, I know he likes to give out that ‘grandpa vibe’ at the State Fair. And, I suspect Parson happily spoils his six grandkids.
The record with other people’s grandkids and kids, alas, remains horrible.
Yes, he always speaks colloquially of the importance of ‘readin, ritin’ and rithmatic.’ He seldom misses a chance to say how important services to kids are in his governorship.
Well…
Missouri is one of a few states to turn down $120 per low-income student to buy food this summer.
The latest report shows that in June alone 16,262 kids lost their Medicaid coverage!
Now, last year Washington gave Missouri special summer food stamp funds to assist 356,000 low-income students. Unfortunately, “Challenges collecting and sharing data between agencies caused the major delays in getting last year’s money to eligible children.” The Department of Social Services and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education couldn’t do their jobs. Some families didn’t get their 2022 summer help till June 2023!
Rather than work-out those problems, Missouri walked off the field. As a result, $42 million didn’t get to kids in struggling families this summer.
Remember, Governor Parson always opposed Medicaid Expansion, despite the voters making that happen. Better than 300,000 Missouri citizens, most all in homes with employed adults, joined Medicaid thanks to expanded eligibility. This spring one in every four Missourians enjoyed Medicaid coverage.
For about three years (thanks to Covid-19) every person on Medicaid got to stay on Medicaid unless they voluntarily gave up coverage. That grace period expired. In June Missouri began reviewing every Medicaid case for reauthorization or cancellation. In a rounded number, 110,000 patients now get reviewed each month.
As lauded by DSS, “Missouri kicked more than 32,000 people off the Medicaid rolls in June, with children accounting for half of that number and two-thirds of those children disenrolled for procedural reasons.” [Missouri Independent, 7/27/23]
For ‘procedural reasons’ read incomplete paperwork.
It gets worse. Almost a third of the cases reviewed got pushed into July because the state couldn’t keep up. So, in July the state had 140,000+ cases to review. The roll-over number will grow and grow. Expect that by December state workers could have 175,000 cases to work in a month.
Only the state really doesn’t do that much work on these cases. No, due to a lack of staff the state depends on Medicaid patients to complete their yellow reauthorization form and send it to DSS. Complicated government-ese forms to complete within a short time by people unfamiliar with medical paperwork. What could go wrong?
Have a question? Call your local Legal Services office.
You see, the state replaced staffed county offices with Call Centers. It often takes hours to get a person on the line. They may or may not be able to answer your question.
That’s why state officials said that 300,000 Missourians may lose their Medicaid coverage in a year. In other words, weaponized under supported reauthorization will eliminate the gains made by Medicaid Expansion. And half of those ‘disenrolled’ will be kids.
Oh, it’s not just Missouri. The governor of Texas rolled out a reauthorization plan that “reported disenrolling 82% of its Medicaid recipients it had processed through May…” [NPR 8/3/23]
Anyway, I could go through all sorts of budget items where Parson talks about helping kids but the reality ain’t so. Missouri’s children aren’t important to the governor nor his bureaucracy. Look not at what gets said but at what happens.
Glenn Koenen
Image source: Library of Congress. Children of farmer in the Ozarks.