Missouri Senate Supports Governor’s DME Cuts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.–Last week the Missouri state senate
introduced sweeping Medicaid legislation that scraps funding for
most adult durable medical equipment.

“Nobody wants to do this,” Sen. Chuck Purgason told the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch. “The fact is, the state is broke. If we do
not do what’s in this bill, we’re looking at a $600 million to $700
million shortfall.”

The bill’s language strikes coverage for most equipment,
including “orthopedic devices or other prosthetics … and
wheelchairs,” but keeps coverage for children and the blind. It
also supports the Medicaid cuts in Gov. Matt Blunt’s proposed
budget, released earlier this year. The cuts, if approved, would
take effect after the state starts its new fiscal year in July.

“This is the bill that would eliminate DME funding, which is
congruent with the governor’s budget proposal,” said Brady Vestal,
director of home medical equipment at Citizen Memorial Health Care
in Bolivar, Mo.

Vestal is state chairman for the Midwest Association for Medical
Equipment Services (MAMES), which is coordinating a grassroots
effort to stop the proposed cuts. In early February, Vestal
testified before state lawmakers against cuts to home oxygen, and
plans to organize further testimony in the coming weeks, providing
concrete numbers that prove the cost-effectiveness of DME and
comparing DME Medicaid spending in Missouri with that of other
states.

At a February rally, consumer groups protesting the measure
created a sculpture titled “The Governor’s Waste”–a trash bin
filled with crutches, wheelchair parts and prosthetic limbs–in the
rotunda of the Missouri capitol.

Also last week, the Missouri senate introduced legislation that
would create a state Medicaid Reform Commission charged with
recommending ways to overhaul the state’s public health program.
During the process, the commission will seek out expertise from
health care providers and study other state Medicaid programs,
sources said, including Utah’s current program and Medicaid
privatization proposals recently announced by Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush.

The Missouri state Medicaid bill is posted on the state’s Web
site, available by clicking
here. To view the bill on the Missouri Medicaid Reform
Commission, click
here.