Why Isn’t The Media Interested?
Obliteration of Missouri Medicaid Continues
March 2024 Missouri Benefit Report Issued
In the past year Missouri has shed 144,592 MO HealthNet/Medicaid patients. That includes…
A 19.2% drop in Custodial Parents
A 15.6% drop in Persons With Disabilities, and,
A 13% drop in Children covered
Why are the numbers plummeting?
Simple. This is what the Parson Administration and Missouri’s Republican elected officials want.
Remember, it took one of those evil initiative petition drives and a vote by people too stupid to understand the issue to expand Medicaid as allowed by the Affordable Care Act. Alas, voter intent means nothing. Through bureaucratic bungling, legislative starvation and downright meanness they who govern have undermined the will of the people. They have erected a paperwork wall more efficient that Donald Trump’s desired border wall.
That 15.6% drop in disabled covered my Medicaid really, really bothers me. Medicaid coverage for those folks is very, very hard to get. The hoops to jump through would tire a circus lion. And, once you think you’re done you have to submit the next cycle’s paperwork.
So, why would people who have gotten coverage let it go away? I say they are consciously being discriminated against by miserly GOP leadership unwilling to let them get the care they need to live.
From the same March 2024 Monthly Management Report for the Division Of Family Services and the MO HealthNet Division [ mo.dss/reports ] the break-out Table 21 for disabled (page 55) shows a March unit cost of $2,689.96 per person. Compare that to the overall Managed Care premium per person of $441.73 for the month. Each cripple pushed downw the stairs saves as much as tossing half a dozen kids out the window!
Don’t like that image? Well, the media in this state bends over backwards to not offend the GOP super majority: perhaps it’s time they acted like real journalists and showed some concern for the 144,592 kicked-off Medicaid (including almost 27,00 disabled neighbors).
The number of Missourians getting food stamps (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance changed very little from February to March.
March Missouri Benefits
2024 2014
Temporary Assistance
Children 9,727 55,293
Parents 3,043 27,535
Total 12,770 82,828
Payments $1,212,637 $7,354,411
Per Family $ 228.76 $ 227.51
Per Day $ 7.38 $ 7.34
Food Stamps
Participants 655,670 862,992
Payments $128,219,618 $102,754,484
Per Person $ 195.56 $ 119.07
Per Day $ 2.10 $ 1.28
MO HealthNet
Enrolled 1,349,495 829,585
Covered 1,533,891 866,238
Payments $1,363,237,799 $ 608,795,247
Per Person $ 888.74 $ 702.80
Managed Care 1,192,103 407,061
Premium Each $ 441.73 $ 202.72
Food Stamps By County
St. Louis County 97,234
Jackson Co. 93,305
St. Louis City 57,134
Greene Co. 31,380
Jasper Co. 17,149
296,292
(45% OF STATE TOTAL)