Photo by Jill Hyde, staff A group met at the Kennett Chamber of Commerce Thursday to discuss Medicaid expansion in Missouri. Pictured from left are Kerry Noble, CEO of Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems; Walt Wildman, SEMO chapter organizer for Missouri Association for Social Welfare; Tracy Ellis, of Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center; Michelle Rasberry, executive director of Dunklin County Caring Council; and Mark Davis, COO of Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems.
With only three weeks left to find a way to push the proposal of Medicaid expansion through the Missouri Legislature, expansion supporters are fighting to be heard on the issue. At this late in the season the issue would have to be attached to one of the current bills as an amendment in order for Missouri to gain status as a Medicaid expanded state. Currently, only 29 out of 50 states have agreed to expand their medicaid programs. This has been an issue that has been the topic of much debate since 2012.
On Thursday, a group of supporters of Medicaid expansion met to discuss the issue at the Kennett Chamber of Commerce. According to Walt Wildman, SEMO chapter organizer for the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, Missouri is still meeting much resistance on the subject. AccessHealthnews.net reports there are 300,000 people who would be eligible for Missouri Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Because Missouri legislators are still stalling about the issue, these people are seeking medical treatment elsewhere in such places as emergency rooms. Missouri is losing out on $423.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds and hospitals are losing a $167.8 billion boost that was designed to offset the major cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
Wildman said the legislature’s failure to expand Medicaid is costing hospitals like Pemiscot Memorial in Hayti millions. The hospital has closed its obstetrics department and sends patients to nearby hospitals at Kennett and Blytheville. “Both Pemiscot and Dunklin Counties are seeing an increase in infant mortality rates because the people have no access to insurance coverage ,” Wildman argued. He says that he attended a conference presented by Bootheel Babies and Families that provided statics proving that Pemiscot and Dunklin counties have an infant mortality rate that is at 12 percent. The national average of other counties is 6 percent. Wildman says “The average worker at McDonald’s makes about enough to pay his bills but surely not to afford health insurance. These people would have coverage under the Medicaid Expansion program. People need to start calling their legislators and start promoting the need for this to be passed.”