Nixon signs bill to allow more elderly, blind, disabled to qualify for Medicaid assistance

More elderly, blind and disabled Missourians will qualify for Medicaid assistance under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Jay Nixon.

“This will help thousands of Missourians live more independent lives,” Nixon said during a ceremonial bill signing in the Cape Girardeau County Commission chambers in Jackson.

All three county commissioners and state Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson, and state Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, were among about 30 people, mostly caregivers and providers, who attended the event. The audience included members of the Cape Girardeau County Board for the Developmentally Disabled.

Currently, an individual may have no more than $1,000 in assets, while married people living together may have no more than $2,000 in assets.

Under this new law, beginning in July 2017, the limit will increase annually by $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for couples until the respective limits reach $5,000 and $10,000 by fiscal year 2021.

Additionally, there will be a cost-of-living adjustment each year beginning in fiscal 2022 to keep up with inflation, Nixon said.

It is estimated the law could result in an additional 10,000 Missourians becoming eligible for Medicaid coverage.

“These are folks who just want a chance to be responsible and save for the future, but a law written more than 40 years ago wouldn’t let them. Today, we’re doing something about that,” he said.

Nixon said the new law, which he described as fiscally prudent, marks the first time in all those decades the assets limit has been increased.

By July 2020, the assets limit will have increased by 500 percent, Nixon said.

The governor said the new law continues a record of strengthening mental-health and disability services in Missouri over the past seven years.

In 2010, the Partnership for Hope program was established. It provides home- and community-based services to Missourians with developmental disabilities and their families.

The Partnership for Hope, the first of its kind in the nation, is helping more than 4,375 people with developmental disabilities in 103 counties and the city of St. Louis, the governor’s office said.

Also in 2010, Nixon spearheaded the bipartisan effort to pass the law mandating the coverage of autism diagnosis and treatment. For the first time, insurance companies were required to cover one of the most effective types of therapy, applied behavioral analysis or ABA.

While effective, the cost of ABA can exceed tens of thousands of dollars a year, making insurance coverage necessary for most families, he said.

In 2015, United Cerebral Palsy ranked Missouri third in the nation — and second most-improved since 2007 — for providing quality services that improve the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, the governor said.

Last month, Nixon signed the fiscal year 2017 budget, which includes what the governor calls “historic investments in services” for Missourians with developmental disabilities, mental illness and substance-use disorders. State and federal funding for the Department of Mental Health has increased by more than $200 million.

Included in this budget is $14 million to ensure there continues to be no waiting list for in-home services for low-income Missourians with developmental disabilities.

Nixon said when he took office, many Missourians had to wait months or even years for the services they needed to live independently. Today, that waiting list has been eliminated, he told the crowd.

Nixon praised the efforts of Republican lawmakers Lichtenegger and Wallingford in helping secure passage of the bill in the Missouri Legislature.

In turn, the two lawmakers thanked Nixon for his support of the measure.

Lichtenegger, who long has advocated such legislation, welcomed the new law.

“This is the reason people across the state of Missouri send legislators to Jefferson City, to work in a bipartisan manner to help the most vulnerable of our citizens.” Wallingford said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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