Blunt Campaign Says Missourians with Disabilities Should Be "Thankful" for the Governor's Health Care Cuts

Governor Should Apologize to Thousands of Missourians Struggling to Make Ends Meet Because of His Cuts

JEFFERSON CITY, MO - Last Friday, Attorney General Jay Nixon held a roundtable discussion at a home in Springfield with several local residents who had their health care slashed by Gov. Matt Blunt.  Each person shared their personal story about how they had overcome their disability in order to go to work and provide for their family - until Blunt's health care cuts set them backwards and left them unable to afford health care and make ends meet.
 
Blunt's campaign response: The Missourians in that room should be "thankful" for the cuts and for the Governor's MO HealthNet plan, which does nothing to help Missourians with disabilities.  See the KY3 report here: http://www.ky3.com/news/local/12268436.html
 
"The people of Missouri aren't thankful that Blunt slashed their health care and made their premiums skyrocket, they're angry - and they have every right to be," said Nixon campaign spokesman Oren Shur.  "The comments from the Governor's campaign not only defy common sense, they're cold, heartless and downright offensive."
 
At Attorney General Nixon health care discussion in Rolla last week, Shannon Williams - a quadriplegic from Salem, said: "I had just finished putting my wife through pharmacy school and later that year I had the accident. By August, 2005, I had three months of physical therapy, and I was walking 900 feet a day with braces. And then came the health-care cuts and took all that away from me. I feel like Gov. Blunt cut my legs off." [Rolla Daily News, 12/4/2007]_
Does Gov. Blunt really think Shannon Williams should thankful his physical therapy was cut? 

Read the story below from last Tuesday's Rolla Daily News.

Panel Relays Experiences -- Alan Lewis Gerstenecker, Rolla Daily News
http://www.therolladailynews.com/articles/2007/12/04/news/news02.txt
 
Paraplegic Shannon Williams will tell you he has the makings for a great country song. 

"I lost my wife, my dog and my legs all in the same year," Shannon, 33, said, managing to break a smile in a room full of people Friday with stories of how Gov. Matt Blunt's health-care cuts have affected their lives. My friends tell me there's a country song in there somewhere," Williams said.

The former construction worker who has become an activist said the cuts in Missouri medical benefits are no laughing matter. Williams was one of four people who gathered at Gary Stevens' home at 200 West First St. in Rolla for a discussion with Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, a Democrat, who will challenge Republican incumbent Matt Blunt. Nixon heard from a trio of people for whom the 2005 health-care cuts affected. They included Williams, Jill Mosher and Wade McBride.

Mosher said she was born with a heart defect that mandates she receive costly medication, which she has been mostly unable to get because of its expense. McBride is a laid-off Briggs & Stratton tool crib worker, who because of his lay-off, has found himself unable to pay for his wife's costly prescription medication. 

"I was offered a Cobra program, but that meant paying $900 a month for continued benefits," McBride said. "I can't pay that. I don't know how many people can."  McBride said he also had to give up property -- acreage -- that was given to him, a gift from a family member, because his assets were too high.  "I was hoping to one day build a home on that property for my family, but that's gone now," McBride said. 

As talk went around the room and each person elaborated heart-wrenching tales of their health-care dilemmas wrought on by budget cuts, none were as telling as the Williams' story.  In March, 2004, Williams lost his wife and in November of that year was in an automobile accident that severely damaged his legs and back. 

"I had just finished putting my wife through pharmacy school and later that year I had the accident," Williams said. "By August, 2005, I had three months of physical therapy, and I was walking 900 feet a day with braces. And then came the health-care cuts and took all that away from me. I feel like Gov. Blunt cut my legs off," Williams said. 

To make matters worse, because Williams was willing to do physical therapy in an outpatient basis -- costing the state less money than an inpatient -- his therapy sessions were subject to the cuts. 

"Because I was an outpatient, my therapy was cut. I lost everything. It's all gone," Williams said. "Even if I restarted today, I don't know that I could get it back, make up for what I lost." 

When Williams finished, there was silence.  No one spoke. It was as if people were taking in everything Williams had said.  Perhaps they were silent out of respect. 

Then, Nixon replied.  "I can never begin to restore what you have lost," Nixon said. "But, if elected, I can begin to right a wrong that has been brought upon you..."  "I can tell you this, if elected governor, there will be no priority higher (than restoring health benefits). This is a wrong policy.

In Shannon's case, we're talking physical therapy. This is not high-dollar medical expenses," Nixon said. "Instead of ending the legislative session with a $200 million surplus in an election year, we should be helping Missourians. It's beyond ironic. It's beyond hypocritical. It is wrong in a budget year," Nixon said.

Now, Williams is going to college.  "I was working on my general studies, but after all this I may look into politics," Williams said.

The governor's health-care cuts have resulted in 400,000 Missourians losing benefits, according to Nixon's statistics. Many of them, the attorney general said, are children, elderly and Missourians with disabilities. As a result, it is estimated 750,000 in the state do not have health benefits of any kind, including more than 127,000 children. 

"I've been lucky all my life," Nixon said. "I've been blessed with good health and the intelligence to help other Missourians. That's what I'm going to continue to do." 

Meanwhile, Blunt is expected today to unveil his new health care program for the poor.  The group is charged with overseeing Blunt's transformation of Medicaid into a prevention-oriented system called MOHealthNet. 

A call to Blunt's office Monday for comment did not yield a return call.