MEDICAID

On Feb. 22, Senate Majority Floor Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, filed long-awaited legislation to overhaul Medicaid. Under Republican legislation enacted in 2005, Medicaid will cease to exist in 2008 unless renewed this year. Shields’ bill calls for renaming Medicaid MO HealthNet and renaming the Division of Medical Services the MO HealthNet Division. It would offer financial incentives to doctors and hospital for providing good care and give recipients bonuses for making healthy lifestyle choices, such as quitting smoking. It would also shift Medicaid recipients into one of three managed care systems by 2013. The bill would not restore health care coverage to any of the 177,000 Missourians kicked off Medicaid since the cuts of 2005. See the following link for more information: http://www.senate.mo.gov/07info/bts_web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=28834