Missouri Governor Approves DME Cuts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.–Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed Medicaid
reform legislation last week that would eliminate coverage for most
adult DME. While some of these services could be funded through the
state legislature’s budget, the governor threatened to use his
line-item veto power if too many changes are made.

The new law, which takes effect Aug. 28, also will remove
100,000 beneficiaries from the program rolls and scale back
coverage levels to the minimum required by the federal
government.

While the law takes away the requirement for Medicaid to fund
DME, the legislature appears to be willing to restore some
services. Last month, the House passed a budget that would fund
equipment including wheelchairs, oxygen and artificial limbs, but
not other products like canes, crutches, catheters and commodes.
The Senate is still debating its budget and has proposed adding
even more services, which prompted a warning from Blunt: “If I
received a budget that in multiple instances expanded the
[Medicaid] program beyond what was in [the newly signed law], I
would indeed use the line-item veto.”

In protest to the signing of the legislation, eight people
chained their wheelchairs to a door in the Missouri state capitol
on Thursday. At one point during the more than two-hour
demonstration, an estimated 100 people blocked the doorway as they
chanted to meet with Blunt. Many disabled Missourians claim the
legislation will prevent them from living independently and force
them into nursing homes.