Missouri Democrats Propose Public Option

Sept. 29--The Missouri Democratic Party is proposing a public option health care plan as part of sweeping changes they say would increase options, restore coverage that Republicans have recently eliminated, and reduce costs both to Missourians and the state's budget.

The plan also includes an effort to provide veterans employment security while allowing them to seek care for service-related conditions.

Missouri Democratic Party Chair Stephen Webber outlined the program during an event Thursday at Truman State University in Kirksville, part of an eight-city statewide tour as the party tries to build support for its "Healthy Missouri" platform.

The initiative was announced on the heels of Republicans in Washington again failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The Missouri Democratic Party's proposal calls for statewide initiatives, including expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Webber acknowledged the uphill climb Democrats face in Jefferson City, where Republicans hold a supermajority.

"We're not going to stop fighting," Webber said. "We think it's important to put out a vision that gives people a choice between the Republican plan of just cuts, and the Democratic plan of more options and lower costs."

He also said he believes many Missourians are "appalled at the savage Republican cuts" that eliminated prescription drug support for 60,000 low-income Missouri seniors and slashed care for 8,000 seniors and people with disabilities.

"The health care discussion is not a political debate," Webber said. "It's the debate about the health and financial security of working Missourians.

"The Republican plan that they've been putting out in Jefferson City and Washington DC is to cut things...to cut taxes for billionaires and pay for billionaires' tax cuts," he said. "(Democrats have) a different vision for what health care can be. Are we against cuts? Absolutely. We're against the Republican cuts, we're going to stay against the Republican cuts, but we also think there's some changes that need to be made."

One piece is expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which has been a political non-starter in the Republican-controlled Missouri Legislature.

The expansion, which would be paid for largely with federal dollars, extends Medicaid coverage to Missourians with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. That represents 260,000 people.

Doing so would also save the state an estimated $87 million and create 24,000 new jobs.

"There's the moral health care piece and there's also the economic piece," Webber said. "We can cover 260,000 people, create jobs and save tax dollars. It's a no brainer."

A next step is to provide a public option for Missourians, allowing anyone above that line to buy in to Medicaid at actual cost.

Webber said a public option would bring competition to the health insurance market and be of particular help to rural Missouri counties, many of which lack multiple provider options in the federal health insurance exchange.

"If you want to stay with your private insurance provider, you can do that," Webber said. "Or this option is available to you at actual cost."

The "Healthy Missouri" plan also contains several pieces aimed at controlling prescription drug costs. The top priority is restoring funding to the MORx program, which lowered prescription drug costs for low-income seniors.

Republicans in the Missouri Legislature eliminated the program this year, raising costs for 60,000 seniors.

Webber said that restoration could be paid for largely by the state opting back in to the Federal Family Planning Program. Missouri opted out of the 90-10 match program last year, requiring the state to come up with an additional $9 million of its own funds.

Webber said Republicans did that in order to control which providers were eligible for reimbursement.

"They backed out that $9 million (in federal money) and reduced options for women and the price of that was they cut 60,000 seniors' prescription drug help," Webber said. "They took prescription drug assistance away from seniors for the sole purpose of reducing women's options for health care."

Additional pieces of the prescription drug portion include requiring pharmaceutical companies to provide notice and justification if a drug's cost increases by an amount higher than the national average, and placing a ban on companies providing gifts to physicians.

Webber, a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq, said the plan also includes an effort that would provide veterans a bit of employment protection, allowing them to take time off from work, unpaid and with notice provided to their employer, to access health care for service-connected health conditions.

Webber proposed such legislation while he was in the Legislature.

"The Missouri Chamber of Commerce stopped it; killed it," he said. "They said they didn't want to put any burdens on employers."

Additional provisions in the "Healthy Missouri" plan include creating and enacting a comprehensive Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, urging the Board of Healing Arts to incorporate cultural awareness and diversity training into medical education, and allow private attorneys to pursue Medicaid fraud cases on behalf of the state.

___

(c)2017 Kirksville Daily Express, Mo.

Visit Kirksville Daily Express, Mo. at www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.