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Opinion
Legislature failed to reform Medicaid
Thursday, September 7, 2006
As one who keeps a fairly close eye on the Medicaid issue in Missouri, I'm disappointed that the GOP sponsors of reform legislation failed to agree and now a special session of the Legislature appears unlikely.
Gov. Matt Blunt said earlier he would call the special session to restore Medicaid cuts to nearly 3,000 disabled Missourians if lawmakers would also approve legislation to address fraud by medical providers. Quite frankly, both of these moves are important and both should have been accomplished before now. But at the very least a special session would have given the Legislature the opportunity to attack fraud within the medical community that is surely costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
As I read it, the disagreement came down to the amount of money that "whistleblowers" would receive if they alert the state to Medicaid fraud. There was also a concern that less physicians would treat Medicaid patients if they were prone to more lawsuits.
Either way, the state loses. For starters, 3,000 disabled workers will go even longer without Medicaid benefits. I'm no advocate of more Medicaid services but these Missourians are being used as pawns in a political game.
I've said all along - attack those who cheat the Medicaid system whether it's patients with phantom medical issues or physicians and others who bill Medicaid because they know the checks and balances of the program are lacking. If a physician is billing Medicaid for unnecessary costs then that physician should be punished. We should not abandon this important issue over the question of who might benefit financially from alerting the state.
Attorney General Jay Nixon's office must remain vigilant and root out Medicaid fraud whenever and wherever it occurs. Thus far, he's taking a proactive approach and he should be commended accordingly.
But the Missouri Legislature has failed the test this year. The leadership should have resolved their differences and put a measure before the Governor that would benefit all Missourians.