Volume 19, Edition 3   •  September 21, 2007

Governor’s Plan to Provide Health Care to Working Uninsured

Gov. Matt Blunt this week announced the launch of his Insure Missouri health care plan that will help Missouri’s low-income, uninsured workers buy health insurance and reduce the number of uninsured by 30 percent. Insure Missouri will provide new access to affordable health insurance for nearly 200,000 Missourians, and 130,000 people could be enrolled by July 2008. The Insure Missouri plan also will help lower health care costs for all Missourians by expanding the ranks of the insured. Insure Missouri will help working Missourians who make up to 185 percent of the poverty level or $38,203 for a family of four purchase their own insurance. It is projected to help cover nearly 200,000 uninsured. It will be introduced in three phases over 15 months and will give Missourians a choice among competing plans.

  • Phase 1 – Working parents and caregivers with children in the home with incomes up to 100 percent of poverty or $20,650 for a family of four beginning in February 2008. It is estimated to bring coverage to about 54,500 Missourians.
  • Phase 2 – Starting next summer the same coverage will be offered to working parents and other working adults who are not Medicare eligible with income levels set by the General Assembly. If the General Assembly fully embraces Governor Blunt’s plan, it is projected to cover an additional 77,000 Missourians. Cost sharing by the assisted Missourians is not to exceed 5 percent of income.
  • Phase 3 – Making health care more affordable for small business owners and their employees. Eligibility will be set by the General Assembly and will include a plan to create a “reinsurance” program, which is a way to reduce catastrophic risk to insure employees and make premiums more affordable.

The governor’s plan invests some of this money to help eligible Missourians purchase their own health insurance on the front end so they will have the coverage they need when they need it. This initiative is a more effective use of existing resources. It gets people out of the emergency room and into a primary care environment. It will alleviate the burden on taxpayers and those who buy their own insurance today. Insure Missouri will take advantage of available technology, allowing Missourians to apply through an electronic application. The program was authorized by legislation the governor signed this year and will begin offering the first phase of benefits in spring of 2008. The governor’s plan to reduce the uninsured by maximizing public and private resources will also benefit small businesses. Reducing the cost for small businesses and their employees to gain health coverage reduces turnover and improves workforce stability. Governor Blunt already has signed legislation increasing access to the state’s high risk pool, allowing students and young adults to be covered on their parent’s insurance up to age 25 and allowing premium costs to be paid with pre-tax dollars. Another aspect of Governor Blunt’s health care package was the creation of MO HealthNet, which recently replaced Missouri’s Medicaid program. MO HealthNet has been retooled to provide better quality health care for participants with a focus on health, wellness and prevention. More information may be accessed online at www.insuremissouri.org or through local Family Support Division offices or Community Health Centers. Enrollment will begin in February.

MRP Lawsuit Prompts Sunshine Law Victory

In a major victory for open government, the Missouri Ethics Commission this week gave in to legal pressure from the Missouri Republican Party when it rescinded its order to notify candidates who received excess contributions that they might be in violation of the law. The Missouri Republican Party filed a lawsuit this week against the Ethics Commission for flagrant violations of the Sunshine Law stemming from the panel’s secret meeting earlier this month to discuss the campaign finance contributions. After arguments in Cole County Circuit Court, the Ethics Commission held a hastily called meeting in which it not only rescinded its earlier order but agreed to hold public hearings on the contribution issue. The hearing is scheduled for October 4 in Jefferson City. The fact of the matter is that the Ethics Commission blatantly violated the Sunshine Law and denied Missourians their right to be informed about a significant public policy decision that affects the lives of thousands of contributors and candidates. The decision by the Ethics Commission also proves how effective state law can be when Jay Nixon isn’t involved in defending it.

Governor’s Workers’ Compensation Reforms Working

In 2005, Governor Blunt successfully promoted workers’ compensation reforms as part of his economic development initiatives. The Republican-controlled Legislature that year passed the reforms and now Missourians are seeing the positive results. A recent National Council on Compensation Insurance filing indicates that the governor’s reforms are helping to decrease workers’ compensation rates in the state. Figures collected by the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration’s Insurance Market Regulation Division indicate this downward trend in overall costs. The National Council on Compensation Insurance recently proposed an overall decrease of 10.1 percent from its 2007 loss costs for the state of Missouri. Insurers and self-insurers use these loss costs to establish workers’ compensation premiums for Missouri employers. “Missouri businesses and entrepreneurs have responded to Missouri’s new pro-jobs, pro-growth policies by creating over 93,000 jobs for Missouri families over the past two and a half years,” Governor Blunt said. “The effects of workers’ compensation reform appear to be having a positive impact on Missouri employers while providing essential protections for Missouri workers harmed on the job. This dramatic 10 percent reduction in costs for Missouri employers is helping attract and retain more jobs, promote continued economic growth and provide more opportunities for Missouri workers.”

Governor Renews Commitment to Older Missourians

Governor Blunt issued an executive order this week that will renew the mission of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging to improve services for Missouri’s aging population. The executive order the governor signed this week rejuvenates the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging, including requiring the council to be comprised of 12 members, more than half of which must be 60 years of age or older. The council will be charged with advising the governor on what actions and policies state government can pursue to increase the independence and dignity of Missouri seniors. "Missourians can be proud of the efforts we are making to secure a better life for Missourians at every stage of their lives," the governor said. "We are making our state a better place for seniors to ensure that their retirement years are enjoyable and secure."

Parkinson Selected to Run in 16th House District

Mark Parkinson, an aide to Sen. Kit Bond, has been selected as our party’s nominee to succeed Carl Bearden in the 16th Missouri House District. Parkinson was selected to represent our party by members of the 16th Republican Legislative District Committee headed by Fred Henke. Ten members of the 12-person committee met to choose the Republican nominee to fill the House seat. Parkinson will be required to resign his job with Bond before he files his candidacy papers for the House seat. The Missouri Republican Party looks forward to Mark’s upcoming campaign and we encourage residents of the 16th District and beyond to join us and lend their support to his campaign efforts. The special election is slated for February 5.

Kasten Tapped for 158th House Race

Mary Kasten is the Missouri Republican Party’s candidate in the 158th Missouri House District race. Kasten was selected late this week by the 158th District House Republican Committee and will face Democrat Mike Keefe, the former Cape Girardeau postmaster, and Libertarian George Webster in the February 5 special election to fill the seat formerly held by Nathan Cooper. Kasten first won election to the Missouri House in 1982 and held the seat for 18 years. The Missouri Republican Party would like to congratulate Kasten and we are all prepared to work as hard as we can in the months to get her elected again to the Missouri House.

USDA Approves Flood Relief

U.S. Agriculture Sec. Mike Johanns this week approved Governor Blunt’s September 4 request for a disaster designation for six Missouri counties as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain and flood damage that occurred in June and July 2007. Eight additional counties were named as contiguous disaster counties and will also be eligible for disaster designation. The six counties included on the primary disaster areas list include Bates, Cass, Henry, Johnson, St. Clair and Vernon. The contiguous disaster regions include Barton, Benton, Cedar, Hickory, Jackson, Lafayette, Pettis and Polk counties. The disaster declaration in both primary and contiguous counties makes farm operators eligible for low-interest emergency loans from Missouri Farm Service Agencies (FSA) if eligibility requirements are met. Local FSA offices will be able to provide Missouri farmers with additional information on the low-interest loans.

Tour of Missouri Boosts Show Me State

The recently-completed 600-mile Tour of Missouri cycling event backed by Governor Blunt and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder surpassed all expectations and demonstrated its value and benefits many times over. The race showcased Missouri’s natural beauty to a world audience while pouring new tourism dollars into host communities and captivated and inspired a new group of enthusiastic fans. The Governor praised the event’s overwhelming success, spectator turnout and professional and organized crowd and traffic management now synonymous with the first year of the event. The Tour of Missouri is slated to be one of the top three professional cycling races in the United States and attracted some of the world’s top-ranked cycling teams. According to estimates from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, more than 40,000 cycling enthusiasts turned out in Kansas City alone for the start of the tour, exceeding expectations. Every start and finish city along the route saw the benefits and reported a better than anticipated interest and impact. The tour also has provided a great venue to promote the benefits of physical activity and health and wellness. “I hope that all cyclists and spectators enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Show Me State and will visit again to explore and see more of our beautiful state,” Governor Blunt said. More information on the Tour of Missouri can be found at www.tourofmissouri.com.

Nixon Opposes Health Care for Low Income Missourians

Jay Nixon is publicly opposing a new plan to help hundreds of thousands of Missourians purchase their own personal health insurance without a tax increase. With no apologies to parents trying to provide health care for their families, Nixon issued a politically-motivated media statement this week attacking Governor Blunt’s Insure Missouri initiative, which will reduce the number of uninsured Missourians by 30 percent by helping nearly 200,000 people purchase affordable health care. Ironically, Nixon’s politically-motivated attacks and other uninformed rhetoric from the Democrat Party were rejected by the Missouri Budget Project, a Democrat umbrella group that called the governor’s plan “a good first step.” The governor's plan also earned praise from legislative leaders and other stakeholders who recognize the initiative will not only help reduce the number of uninsured, it will help lower health care costs for all Missourians. Nixon’s so-called solution to health care challenges has been to call for a $1 billion tax increase to fund the old, broken Medicaid system. Insure Missouri is another step in the governor's dedication to improve Missouri health care. The governor’s MO HealthNet plan for low-income Missourians was passed by the Republican Legislature and provides greater access and better care to low-income Missourians. Now the governor is working to help significantly reduce the number of Missourians who lack health coverage.

Post-Dispatch Wants Nixon Away from Pro-Life Case

The liberal St. Louis Post-Dispatch has joined the Missouri Republican Party in calling for pro-abortion candidate Jay Nixon to stop “defending” a pro-life law because of his self-admitted conflict of interest in the case brought by abortion-provider Planned Parenthood.“Mr. Nixon has refused to step down, even though in a similar case in 1999, Mr. Nixon agreed to hire an outside lawyer to sue Planned Parenthood, explaining, `I'm pro-choice, I have a conflict.’ Missouri's new law is unduly restrictive, but Mr. Nixon was right in 1999. He had a conflict then, and he still has it. He should step aside and hire impartial outside counsel,” the newspaper said in an editorial this week. Nixon was fired by the Department of Health and Senior Services in light of his conflict of interest, but the pro-abortion Democrat continues to interfere in the case, including filing a brief supporting Planned Parenthood's assertion that the department should not be represented by independent, outside attorneys. To make matters worse, a judge already has ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood by halting the enactment of the pro-life law after Nixon failed miserably in defending it. It is refreshing to see the media join with Missouri Republicans in calling for pro-abortion candidate Nixon to remove himself from this case because of his inherent conflict of trying to defend a pro-life law. Obviously, the recent court ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood shows that Nixon is not doing his job. Jay Nixon must immediately recuse himself from this case so that the pro-life majority in Missouri can be adequately defended as this issue makes its way through the courts.

Democrat in Tizzy Over GOP Voice Item

In a revealing and thin-skinned attack against your GOP Voice, Democrat state Rep. Jeff Roorda this week tried to explain why he questioned Governor’s Blunt patriotism in response to our Media Watch item in last week’s edition. Roorda wrote a letter to the editor in the Kansas City Star defending both his disturbing statements about the governor and reporter Tim Hoover’s biased reporting. The Voice has received numerous calls and emails about Roorda’s low-class form of politics and apparently some of those outraged Missourians may have contacted his office. In any event, Roorda’s excuses and failure to apologize shows that Democrats won’t ever accept the consequences of their actions. For further proof, read Roorda’s email at http://www.kansascity.com. Meanwhile, Roorda’s own credibility problems negates his ability to discuss other people’s motives: http://www.missouripulse.com/production.

Wall Street Journal Again Attacks Missouri Plan

The Wall Street Journal again has sided with Governor Blunt over the ongoing controversy regarding the Missouri Plan. The newspaper previously raised concerns about a system that is run by attorneys and has more to do with politics than the requirement that judges interpret the law rather than write the law. “Missouri voters are perfectly capable of deciding whether they agree with Mr. Blunt on judicial philosophy and holding the governor accountable through the ballot box. Such accountability is exactly what the current system doesn't provide,” the newspaper said in an editorial. The entire editorial from September 17 is available online but only to subscribers at www.online.wsj.com.

Post-Dispatch Shows True Colors on Sunshine Law Story…

For the first time since perhaps the 2004 elections, the media this week actually had something halfway decent to say about Missouri Republicans, with one notable exception. But while The Associated Press, Springfield News-Leader, Kansas City Star and others reported accurately and fairly on the MRP lawsuit against the state Ethics Commission for Sunshine Law violations, the Post-Dispatch chose to cuddle up with their candidate Jay Nixon. It is abundantly clear from the Post-Dispatch story that the newspaper and so-called political reporter Jo Mannies knowingly ignored the news of the Republican lawsuit and replaced it with a pro-Nixon story. This kind of bias in news reporting is disgraceful and exposes once again what Missouri Republicans face when it comes to many in the media. For those interested in discussing the issues with Mannies, she can be reached at 314-340-8334 or jmannies@post-dispatch.com.

…But Sort of Praises Governor’s Health Care Initiative

Governor Blunt this week received some stunning praise from the left-wing editorial page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for his Insure Missouri program that will reduce the number of uninsured Missourians. Governor Blunt’s responsible decision in 2005 to streamline the broken Medicaid system has led the state to the point where not only will the new program be successful but also fiscally viable. “Mr. Blunt's change of approach is welcome news,” the editorial said. To read the entire editorial, visit: http://www.stltoday.com.

MissouriPulse.com Post of the Week

Does Nixon Really Want To Talk About Payday Loan Reform?

During Jay Nixon’s 14-year reign as Attorney General, Democrats have served as Governor for more than a decade, while the legislature was under Democratic control for nearly as long. With these facts in mind, why is it that Nixon is now—after all this time—pressuring Republicans to support his liberal and half-baked payday loan reform ploy?

In Nixon’s defense,  he did make a public push on payday loan reform while Democrats were in charge, but the outcome was not pretty. In 2002, Democrats controlled the State House and Bob Holden was Governor. That year, a payday loan reform bill made its way through the legislature and to Holden’s desk. Following the legislature’s passage of the bill, Nixon launched an aggressive PR campaign in an effort to pressure Holden to veto the bill—a bill Nixon considered to be a sham; not liberal enough; nanny state deficient.

In a testament to Nixon’s lack of clout both as Attorney General and within Democratic ranks, Holden signed the bill over Nixon’s well-publicized objections. That triggered a subsequent round of Democratic infighting as Nixon charged the bill was the worst in the nation and would turn Missouri into the “Gouge Me State." The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Senator Ronnie DePasco, responded to Nixon's criticism by accusing Nixon of spreading “misinformation” regarding the bill.1 A Democratic lobbyist who wrote the bill, former state legislator Don Kissell, echoed DePasco’s criticism of Nixon when he argued Nixon was using “extreme and unsubstantiated figures” to buttress his opposition to the Democratic bill.2

Following Nixon’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of fellow Democrats in 2002, he kept a rather low profile on the issue until Republicans gained control in 2005 at which point he began to make a public push for reform. How politically convenient!

In summation, Nixon’s current push for payday loan reform is nothing more than a political ploy on his part to push a liberal cause that he he has largely ignored for the better part of his tenure as Attorney General (aside from the embarrassing 2002 defeat). If Nixon had devoted the same time and energy to the issue during his first decade as Attorney General when Democrats were in charge, it is possible he would be campaigning on his accomplishments on the issue rather than appearing to be a do-nothing Attorney General looking to make cheap political points with his party’s base. 

____
1 KC Star, 6/28/2002
2 P-D, 9/2/200

The Cornerstone

There are a lot of Republicans across Missouri who have been actively waging war against the liberal media in our state. One of those who are fighting the media on the frontlines is Roland Wetzel, a state committee member from St. Charles and publisher of The Republican newspaper. The Republican contains articles and columns about Republican leaders in a clear and concise manner that cuts through the bias of the mainstream media in Missouri, which prefers to twist reality to fit their liberal agenda. Roland’s strong commitment to separating fact and fiction is evident with each edition of The Republican, and we encourage you to make it an essential part of your party education along, of course, with the GOP Voice. For those of you who haven’t seen The Republican, we encourage you to contact Roland at rwetzel6@charter.net.

Thoughts and Prayers

The Missouri Republican Party encourages Republicans across the state to keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers:

Paul Busiek, husband of Mavis Busiek. Paul’s health concerns continue.

Mike Keathley, Commissioner of Administration, who has cancer.

Rosemary Kochner, 13th District State Committeewoman, who has continued health concerns.

State Rep. Scott Lipke, 157th House District, whose unborn daughter has been diagnosed with a heart condition.

Mary Mallien, 14th District State Committeewoman, who has continued health concerns.

Dawn Sprick, daughter of 21st District State Committeeman Gary Harris, who has cancer.
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