More than 100 people attend seminar on Medicaid cuts

After a rally in Jefferson City on Tuesday by hundreds of advocates against proposed Medicaid cuts, Cape Girardeau played host to its own rally in the form of an information seminar at the Osage Community Centre.

More than 100 people came to the center to hear speakers from the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, The Missouri Budget Project, Cross Trails Medical Center and the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence voice their opposition to the cuts.

"We're really under attack in the Medicaid budget, both at the federal and the state level," said Sharon Feltman, of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare.

Feltman held up a copy of the 78-page bill that recently passed the Missouri Senate, authorizing some of Gov. Matt Blunt's proposed $250 million in cuts to state Medicaid funding, which would be accompanied by a loss of $379 million in federal funds.

"We're talking about putting people out of nursing homes. That's what this proposal amounts to," she said.

The Blunt administration has said the cuts are needed in order to balance the budget without tax increases.

"Missouri has and will continue to have one of the most generous social welfare programs in the country," said Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson. "Even after the governor's reforms are implemented, there will still only be 14 states that spend more of their total budget on social welfare."

Medicaid recipient Vicki Abernathy of Cape Girardeau told her story of dependence of the program for her insulin pump and begged the audience to take action.

"People will have to make decisions like 'Do I eat or do I take my medications?'" she said. "I'm begging you, you have to contact our legislators."