The people of my district are concerned about some very basic but important things – good-paying jobs, high quality education for their children, and access to health care. They also care about keeping government out of their lives where it doesn’t belong.
That is why the recent actions of our own state government have caused many people I represent to be extremely upset. It’s the action of our current administration that has not only intruded into the lives of people here in the St. Louis area, but by doing so also has negatively impacted their ability to access quality health care.
The bottom line is that Governor Nixon’s administration is meddling where it doesn’t belong by telling many of those who are less fortunate which Medicaid managed care plan they can or cannot use. I know many in our area are blessed to have their own private health insurance, but so many others rely on MO HealthNet, which is our state’s Medicaid program. In fact, across the state nearly one million Missourians are covered under this plan.
For 16 years now, the people in our area who are covered under the plan have been extremely satisfied with the health care they receive through Molina Health Care. Molina Health Care is an established and respected health insurance provider and the arrangement it has had with this community is one that has been extremely beneficial. When people get sick, they get appropriate medical treatment and then Molina makes sure the bills get paid. It’s a system that has worked and that has made families who participate in the plan extremely happy.
But now that is all set to change because of the decision of government bureaucrats within Governor Nixon’s administration. Rather than make the wise decision to stick with what works and what people want, they have arbitrarily decided to change things beginning July 1. On that date, Molina Health Care, which has more nurses, doctors and hospitals than any of its competitors on board, will no longer provide health care service to the people of this area.
Instead, the state will offer health care service through a plan that has no HMO business license in the state, hasn’t earned a Certificate of Authority from the Department of Insurance, and has no current Medicaid business experience in Missouri. To make a bad situation even worse, the plan currently has no doctors, no nurses and no hospitals in its provider network.
We have one person to blame for this fiasco – Governor Jay Nixon. As someone who has been a vocal critic of the governor in the past, I am not afraid to once again stand up to him on an issue of critical importance to this district. It’s obvious he has no idea what is in our best interests nor does he understand what it takes to provide sick people with the health care they need and deserve. It’s something he needs to learn and learn quickly, and the only way he is going to do that is if we make our voices heard. I urge all of you to band together to send a message to our governor.
Call his office and let him know the decision he has made is going to harm the lives of countless people here in our area. 573-751-3222 is his phone number. Chances are he isn’t going to talk to any of us, but someone on his staff will get the message. And if we work together and we’re loud enough, we can make this an issue he simply cannot ignore.
