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Volume 13 Issue 2 |
RCOMO NEWS |
April 2006 |
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Parent Power |
Parent Power |
Parent Power |
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LEGISLTION
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Legislators Revisit 2005
In an Associated Press article by David A. Lieb, the Tribune reported that lawmakers are poised to re-enact a reduced version of a program they cut in 2005. Last year, many Missouri legislators repealed a Medicaid health care program for the working disabled, denouncing waste, fraud and abuse. Now they may be indicating the cuts went too far. Endorsed by a joint House and Senate committee created to recommend reforms to the Medicaid program, a bill by Rep. Chuck Portwood, R-Ballwin, would start a new version of the repealed program called Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities, or MAWD. Portwood says more than 40 legislators already have signed on as sponsors, and he has predicted the bill could pass the House within the first 30 days of the session. The momentum for the reversal appears to come partly from the 7,250 Missourians with developmental disabilities who are employed in 93 sheltered workshops around the state. The article noted they are paid below minimum wage to perform tasks such as packaging products for other companies. Many rely on Medicaid for their health care.
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Unfortunately, the elimination of MAWD represented a triple blow against those people with disabilities who hold jobs, causing some to lose more than half of their already small paychecks. When legislators eliminated the MAWD program, they also lowered the income eligibility threshold to qualify for traditional Medicaid and eliminated Medicaid coverage for dental exams and eyeglasses for most adults. Less obvious, many of these Missourians with disabilities who hold jobs survive by combining multiple support programs with their paychecks. Many typically use Social Security payments, Medicaid and their pay, the latter sometimes 60 cents to $1 an hour. With many battling illnesses that often cluster around those with mental disabilities, the Medicaid loss might take one-third or more of their after-tax income. The Tribune article reported that at the request of Gov. Matt Blunt’s office, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent e-mail to sheltered workshops in December to survey the effects of the Medicaid cuts. Responses were returned by 36 workshops representing 3,185 employees. Of those, 18 employees had quit working because of the Medicaid cuts and 13 were working fewer hours so they could qualify for traditional Medicaid at lower income levels. When it was created in 2001, the MAWD program was projected to cover 441 people at a cost of $7 million in state and federal funds. In the 2005 fiscal year, it covered 16,987 people at a cost of about $250 million, according to the Department of Social Services. Backers believe the slimmed-down program should cost less then $10 million. It would set a lower income cutoff to qualify and charge all participants premiums and application fees. (Reprinted from the Missouri Association of Sheltered Workshop Managers Newsletter, Winter 2006)
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The Department of Social Services in 2004 estimated
that nearly 10 percent of the approximately 17,000 people on the MAWD
program were employed in sheltered workshops. The MAWD program allowed
people with disabilities who have incomes more than 2.5 times the
normal cutoff to enroll in Medicaid, so long as they worked a minimal
amount each month.|
House Passes Smaller Medicaid Program for Working Disabled A year after eliminating a Medicaid program for the working disabled, the state House passed legislation Thursday to restart a smaller, more restrictive version of the health-care pragram.
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The Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities program would begin anew July 1, if senators and Gov. Matt Blunt also sign off on the legislation. The House passed it 152-2. Continued on page 2
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PAGE 2
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Smaller Medicaid Program” continued from page 1
Republicans argued the program had grown out of control and eliminated it, effective September 1, as part of a 2005 law that also cut or reduced Medicaid benefits for thousands of others. When MAWD was eliminated, however, more than half the participants continued to receive Medicaid coverage by transferring to another
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prong of the program and, in many cases, paying money out of their own pockets. This year’s legislation is projected to cover 1,800 people under the revised MAWD program, including 1,136 who currently have no coverage and 664 who are now paying to participate in Medicaid. The bill also would restore or improve Medicaid coverage to 1,337 sheltered workshop employees. Those two changes together are projected to cost $19.7 million in state and federal funds next fiscal year, with the tab growing slightly in subsequent years. (Reprinted from the Southeast Missourian,
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Below is a list of Missouri State Senators with their districts,
office numbers and telephone numbers. If you wish to contact your
senator by phone, use the number below. If you wish to write to your
senator, the address is: Senator senator's name Senator District Office Phone
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The MAWD program, also known as the Ticket to Work program, provided
Medicaid coverage last year to 16,987 disabled people who earned too
much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but who worked at least a
minimal amount each month. It cost about $250 million in state and
federal funds.
Matt
Bartle R-8 434 (573)751-1464
INFORMATION HOT LINE 1-800-417-8275
If you know of a situation needing our attention, please do not hesitate to call. Your call can remain confidential.
Need Information? E-mail us at: info@rcomo.org
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IF YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID YOUR 2006 DUES,
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| Member at Large: $10.00 |
Local Member Units: $100.00 plus $1.00 / member |
Mentally Retarded Citizens of Missouri 1310 Southern
Expressway PO Box 831 Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0831 (800) 417-8275
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