House Budget Committee Passes Medicaid Reforms

A variety of responsible Medicaid reforms were recommended by the Appropriations – Health, Mental Health, and Social Services committee, and after a long week of deliberations in the Budget Committee, all of them were included in the budget that will be debated by the House of Representatives in the coming weeks.

These reforms include a state-of-the-art healthcare fraud detection system to proactively detect inappropriate payments, a pilot program to provide coordinated healthcare for foster children, asthma education for families, preventative dental care for adults, improved care for mentally ill individuals, and coverage for complex rehab therapy items like individualized wheelchairs. These changes will improve Missouri’s Medicaid (or Mo HealthNet) program while working within our state’s current budget and existing Medicaid population.

Unfortunately, the members of the minority caucus on the House Budget Committee voted against all of these valuable reforms.

These changes are designed to better the quality of life for Mo HealthNet recipients and improve their health outcomes while providing the state with a financial return on its investment. By continuing to reform the system in a fiscally responsible manner, we can provide higher-quality services to recipients without forcing future legislators to take money from other programs to fund an enlarged Medicaid program.

To provide the state with flexibility in reforming Medicaid, I introduced House Bill 1972, which had a public hearing this week in the Special Standing Committee on Emerging Issues in Healthcare. HB 1972 would broaden the use of managed care in Missouri by allowing the state to contract with Accountable Care Organizations and health homes in addition to traditional managed care organizations.

This bill specifies that the prepaid health plans would not cover pharmaceuticals or mental health to ensure that managed care companies focus on doing what they do best, providing coordinated care that improves health behaviors for long-term wellness.

Rather than risking Missouri’s future financial stability by expanding our current Medicaid system, the legislature should continue concentrating on reforms that offer patients access to comprehensive services while preventing fraudulent payments. Many changes are still needed, but the reforms passed out of the Budget Committee are an important first step toward creating a more sustainable, accountable, and high-quality Mo HealthNet program.