MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - Republicans say it's fear that the state would be starting down the road of a new welfare program that has prompted their opposition to the govenror's program to provide cheaper health insurance for Missouri children.
"It's a small step to socialized medicine," said Rep. Todd Akin, R-St. Louis, who voted against the measure in the House Monday.
The bill passed the House Monday by an 84-71 vote that was nearly exactly along party lines. Only three Republicans voted in support of the plan.
(For the exact roll-call vote, see our state government web service, http://www.mdn.org.)
"The governor has made it his priority," Akin said. "So there's a fair amount of political pressure for the other side to line up."
Several weeks ago, Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan introduced the plan, which would increase accessibility to health care for children whose parents are among the working poor.
Sponsor Scott Lakin, D-Kansas City, said the program would target children aged 18 and under whose parents make too much money to qualify for Medicaid coverage but who cannot afford the full cost of health insurance. Parents would pay on a sliding fee scale based on their income. Lakin said an estimated 115,000 children could qualify.
The bill is now waiting to be heard in the Senate. If it passes, a nonprofit corporation, dubbed the Healthy Missouri Children Corp., would be formed to oversee the program.
According to Blue Cross/Blue Shield spokesman Jim Floyd, the most popular health insurance option costs $39 per month for a 5-18 year old child. That totals $468 per year.
Lakin said he hopes to see private dollars funding the program rather than state funds.
"I think there will be a lot of private donations," he said, noting that the state has applied for a $100,000 grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation to cover startup expenses.
However, there is a provision in the bill to allow the state to subsidize the organization.
Akin said if supporters were serious about not using state money for the program, that section would not be included. He called the corporation a "quasi-charity."
Approximately five other states have implemented similar child health coverage programs, and Akin said costs there have grown exponentially.
Lakin said the Missouri proposal is a "watered-down version" of Florida's program. He said that, rather than raising costs, expenses would actually be lowered because the program would encourage preventative care in place of costly emergency room visits.
"There are a lot of people that can afford 50 percent of a health insurance policy, maybe 75 percent," Lakin said. "But they just can't afford 100 percent."
Lakin said that if those people buy into the plan on a sliding fee scale, that will be money going into health insurance that wasn't there previously.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield currently offers a plan called Kiddie Care where parents can insure their children without also buying health insurance for adults in the household.
"Mainly, it's people that, if they can't afford health care for themselves, they at least want to cover their children," said spokesman Floyd.