New House Committee Discusses Blunt's Insure Missouri Proposal

Friday, January 18, 2008

This past week, Speaker Rod Jetton changed the name of the House Special Committee on Healthcare Facilities to the House Special Committee on Healthcare Transformation. Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, will continue to chair the committee.

Schaaf has scheduled 23 hearings to discuss Blunt's Insure Missouri proposal, which he openly opposes. The first four hearings were held this week, and the remaining 19 hearings are scheduled Monday through Thursday through the end of February.

Most of the testimony presented thus far has been in response to questions posed by Schaaf. The following testified at this week's hearings.

• Marga Hoelscher, House Appropriations director
• Brent Kabler, research manager of the Missouri Department of Insurance
• Cindy Kadlec, director of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules
• Brian Kincaid, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Social Services
• Deborah Scott, DSS director

The Missouri Hospital Association also plans to testify before the committee.

The committee also discussed the state plan amendment for Insure Missouri that recently was approved by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. In addition, the state administrative rules for Insure Missouri were filed this week by the DSS and discussed in detail by the committee.