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Number of kids in Missouri foster care drop, though officials admit challenges persist
Leaders of Missouri’s child welfare agency on Tuesday touted a reduction in the number of children in the state’s overburdened foster care system, telling lawmakers it represented progress toward building a more preventative system. But they also acknowledged that the Children’s Division continues to face major challenges, fielding questions from the House Committee on Children […]
State push to defund Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics continues in appeal
Missouri’s Supreme Court will once again determine whether the state has the authority to restrict public funds from going to Planned Parenthood, after the attorney general formally filed its appeal last week of a December ruling that deemed the effort unconstitutional. After the state legislature voted to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements last […]
Missouri advocates decry proposed change to at-home disability care funding
Nearly 40 years ago, Victoria McMullen and her husband traveled from St. Louis to Sikeston to adopt a six-year-old boy with severe developmental disabilities named Ron. Now 44, Ron has cerebral palsy, autism and intellectual disabilities. He’s unable to live independently and for the last 23 years his parents have relied on a state service […]
More than 170,000 Missouri kids waiting for last summer’s food aid
Even as low-income families across most of the country are receiving federal food aid for this summer, thousands of Missouri families are still waiting for last summer’s benefits. Missouri still needs to issue food benefits to around 177,000 children for a federal program that were designed to help cover costs from last summer, Mallory McGowin, […]
Paperwork issues meant more than 16,000 Missourians lost Medicaid coverage in July
When Rebecca Uccello got a call that her daughter’s Medicaid coverage was in jeopardy, she said it “sent me into a tailspin.” Her 13-year-old daughter, Izabella, has been on Medicaid since age two because of severe developmental disabilities, including a birth defect which prevents her spinal cord from properly developing and a neurological condition which […]
A quarter of Missouri nursing homes haven’t had health inspection in years
One in four Missouri nursing homes hasn’t had a standard inspection in two or more years, according to recently-updated federal data. Federal law requires states conduct an unannounced comprehensive inspection for each long-term care facility at least every 15 months to assess compliance with federal health and safety rules. During those visits, inspectors generally spend […]
Navigating your Medicaid renewal? Missouri advocates offer advice
Missouri has begun checking the eligibility of everyone on its Medicaid rolls — a review process that was paused for three years because of pandemic-era federal protections. Many advocates hope continuing to get the word out about how to navigate what is, for many, an unfamiliar process, will help those who are eligible retain coverage. […]
One-third of Missouri’s rural hospitals at risk of closure, new data shows
One-third of Missouri’s rural hospitals are at risk of closing, according to a report using newly-updated federal data. A July report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a national policy group, found that 19 of Missouri’s 57 rural hospitals are at risk of shuttering because of “serious financial problems.” Many of those […]
Kids make up half of Missourians who lost Medicaid in first month of reviews
More than 32,000 Missourians – half of them children – lost Medicaid coverage in June during Missouri’s first round of eligibility checks after the COVID public health emergency. According to a Department of Social Services announcement Thursday, out of the roughly 116,000 Medicaid recipients who had their eligibility checked in June, around 43% retained coverage, […]
A $78 million boost to Missouri’s child care subsidy slated to reach providers next month
Child care providers who accept a subsidy from the state to serve low-income families will see a boost in payments next month, thanks to a $78.5 million funding increase approved by Missouri lawmakers earlier this year. The funding hike, included in the state budget signed by the governor, went into effect July 1. It won’t […]
Missouri has decided to turn down millions in federal food aid for low-income children
After struggling for nearly a year to get federal food assistance to qualified low-income families, Missouri has decided not to participate in this summer’s program — forgoing tens of millions of dollars in federal aid. The problems administering the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program, or P-EBT, played a major role in the decision not to […]
Push to help Missourians with disabilities avoid Medicaid loss awaits governor’s action
A proposal to help working Missourians with disabilities access affordable health care is among the bills now awaiting action by Gov. Mike Parson. The legislature this year approved a pair of bills that include tweaks to eligibility for the Ticket to Work Health Assurance Program, which provides health insurance through Medicaid to employed adults with […]