By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway says more cuts in the state Medicaid program are necessary to make the program viable.
At a meeting of the Missouri Association of Health Plans in St. Louis, the Warson Woods Republican said Medicaid is overloaded.
Hanaway told the managed care group many recipients are also eligible for private health plans.
"We're going to have to make sure that what were covering is people who can't get coverage elsewhere the sick, the poor, the people who can't work," Hanaway said. "And we're going to have to scale back those programs, and I know that's not the most popular thing I've said today."
Hanaway says private managed care can play a role in Medicaid.
But Dianna Moore, head of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, says cuts this year could cause thousands of people to lose coverage.