Governor Unveils Initiative to Improve Access to Quality Health Care

Governor Matt Blunt has outlined a proposal to improve the quality of health care and access to health care for low income Missourians. The proposal is part of the overall need to replace the existing Medicaid system, which expires on June 30th of 2008. It’s called the Health Care Home program, giving the uninsured and underinsured a new point of entry to obtain health care services. Blunt says Health Care Homes could be such places as community-based health facilities or Federally Qualified Health Centers – FQHCs. Blunt will reveal further details of his much larger plan to improve Medicaid in his State of the State Address, which he will deliver next Wednesday. He says he realizes he will have to deal with the reimbursement rate for doctors who treat Medicaid patients, Physicians have long claimed those rates are too low and discourage doctors from taking on new patients.