The summer heat is finally in full drive and August is just around the
corner! School is getting ready to start in a few weeks and last minute
vacation plans are being made! Everyone is very busy this time of
year. Even with all the hustle and bustle that is going on with summer
winding down, please remember to take a moment and check on your elderly
family, friends and neighbors. The heat can be very hard on the elderly
and many times adverse effects of the heat can come upon a person before they
realize what is happening.
I have been surprised as a freshman legislator at how busy I am even during
this interim period. We, in Missouri, are set up in a matter that is
considered a “part-time legislature”. I am very much enjoying this time
of being home in the district and the opportunities that are being afforded to
me from our being set up in this manner. I am getting to meet with
various state department leaders to learn more about how each state department
is structured and the duties that fall under each. I had developed quite
a list of questions regarding this during the legislative session and having
this time to use learning the answers to these questions will be very helpful
this next legislative session. During session we are called upon to make
decisions on funding, rules and regulations concerning each of the departments,
having a limited knowledge of these made it very difficult to make these
decisions with a great amount of confidence.
My office has been receiving quite a lot of calls regarding healthcare related
issues. We are working through these issues as well as looking at possible
legislative action for the upcoming session. We are hoping to resolve
these issues with the help of the various departments and will be prepared to
offer legislation that will allow these departments to conduct their work with
great efficiency while being aware of the duties to the taxpayers in spending
state money wisely.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Friday, July 3, 2015
Issues facing Missouri...to begin with--Medicaid, Long Term Care
I had stated in my last post I would begin sharing information from
the recent conference I attended on Medicaid Health Policy in Washington
DC. This conference was very informative and gave me quite a good deal of
information.
Medicaid is a much used program all across our nation. It is funded with Federal and State dollars, in Missouri this comes to quite a huge portion of our state’s budget every year. This portion of the budget continues to grow each and every year. The question is how to meet the needs of the citizens that are receiving these benefits while also trying to make the best use of the limited funds that we have available. We also must consider the ever growing list of citizens whom are applying for assistance from the Medicaid program. I have no answer for this situation at this time but at least I do understand the situation better from a policy standpoint.
I am concerned about the current administration of our Medicaid system. I am still looking at the past few years of legislation that impacted Medicaid and made changes. As a nurse I have had patients that applied for Medicaid but by the time a response was received it was too late. I cannot begin to tell you how many calls I receive each week due to the constituent applying for Medicaid but not receiving a timely response.
After attending this conference, as well as several teleconferences and webinars, I feel strongly that Medicaid’s administration/structure must be addressed first. If the structure is so that the system cannot function in an effective and efficient manner, it will do no good to add more money or people to the system, it would in fact, make the situation worse for all those involved.
HB 11, in this past legislative session, included a component that will hopefully address this through a task force. I am hopeful that if I am not included on this team as a member I will at least be able to be an active participant through attending and listening to the meetings and talking with the team members. I will keep you posted on this issue as I continue to learn more.
Long Term Care in Missouri
I am also preparing for the beginning of a series of brainstorming sessions that I will host at the Capitol in regards to the Long Term Care situation in Missouri. This issue is a related one to Medicaid but has several other contributing factors to it as well. The first meeting will be in August and we will begin looking at where Long Term Care is and begin outlining where we would like to see Long Term Care in Missouri. Care of our elderly is very important. How we treat our young, old and defenseless citizens shows very clearly what type of people and society we have. I want this to be a great picture of who we are as Missourians. If you have any input that you would like to share, please do not hesitate to contact me, my email is tila.hubrecht@house.mo.gov.
Medicaid is a much used program all across our nation. It is funded with Federal and State dollars, in Missouri this comes to quite a huge portion of our state’s budget every year. This portion of the budget continues to grow each and every year. The question is how to meet the needs of the citizens that are receiving these benefits while also trying to make the best use of the limited funds that we have available. We also must consider the ever growing list of citizens whom are applying for assistance from the Medicaid program. I have no answer for this situation at this time but at least I do understand the situation better from a policy standpoint.
I am concerned about the current administration of our Medicaid system. I am still looking at the past few years of legislation that impacted Medicaid and made changes. As a nurse I have had patients that applied for Medicaid but by the time a response was received it was too late. I cannot begin to tell you how many calls I receive each week due to the constituent applying for Medicaid but not receiving a timely response.
After attending this conference, as well as several teleconferences and webinars, I feel strongly that Medicaid’s administration/structure must be addressed first. If the structure is so that the system cannot function in an effective and efficient manner, it will do no good to add more money or people to the system, it would in fact, make the situation worse for all those involved.
HB 11, in this past legislative session, included a component that will hopefully address this through a task force. I am hopeful that if I am not included on this team as a member I will at least be able to be an active participant through attending and listening to the meetings and talking with the team members. I will keep you posted on this issue as I continue to learn more.
Long Term Care in Missouri
I am also preparing for the beginning of a series of brainstorming sessions that I will host at the Capitol in regards to the Long Term Care situation in Missouri. This issue is a related one to Medicaid but has several other contributing factors to it as well. The first meeting will be in August and we will begin looking at where Long Term Care is and begin outlining where we would like to see Long Term Care in Missouri. Care of our elderly is very important. How we treat our young, old and defenseless citizens shows very clearly what type of people and society we have. I want this to be a great picture of who we are as Missourians. If you have any input that you would like to share, please do not hesitate to contact me, my email is tila.hubrecht@house.mo.gov.
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