Today I received a reply from Gov. Blunt in response to my letter about his proposed cuts to the Missouri Medicaid program. Gov. Blunt said his proposed budget will “begin the process of eliminating fraud and abuse that has caused program costs to soar.”
As a social worker in the former Division of Family Services for 29 years, now retired, I must strongly disagree that Medicaid has been abused and overspent for years. It was much more common for me to find people who had no medical coverage and could not get help via Medicaid than to find abuses of this system.
All of us are at risk when citizens go without appropriate medical care, including preventive care. In addition, if we expect citizens to support themselves gainfully they must be healthy enough to work. It is imperative that these proposed Medicaid cuts be revisited.
Dawn L. RubbertSt. Louis