After Missouri's sweeping Medicaid cutbacks in 2005, more than 100,000 people lost coverage, and many more faced cuts in benefits and increased cost sharing. The number of uninsured people in the state increased; hospitals faced greater demand for uncompensated care; and community health centers faced revenue shortfalls that forced them to cut staffing, increase patient charges, and seek larger state grants. Moreover, Missouri's cuts slowed the growth in Medicaid spending but did not reduce Medicaid costs.
These findings are contained in a study published on the Health Affairs web site written by Urban Institute researchers working with the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. The study examines the consequences of the cuts Missouri adopted in response to the yawning budget shortfalls that Missouri and other states faced in the beginning years of the decade.
Read the study.
