By Matt Sepic, KWMU.
St. Louis, MO. – Religious leaders in the St. Louis area want Missouri Governor Matt Blunt to reconsider major cuts to the state's Medicaid program.
The governor says the state must trim more than $600 million from Medicaid to keep the budget balanced.
But Tuesday clergy with the Interfaith Partnership of Metropolitan St. Louis spoke out against the plan.
Archbishop Raymond Burke said keeping social programs well-funded is a matter of human dignity.
"I urge our civic leaders to look again at their proposed stewardship of our limited resources in the state, and to find ways in which to use those resources, which will also respect the dignity of all our brothers and sisters," Burke said.
The Reverend James Morris with the St. Louis Interfaith Partnership says access to medical care is a fundamental human right.
"Governor Blunt, the persons who will be adversely affected by cutting Medicaid are not simply numbers and dollar signs," Morris said. "They are real human beings, citizens of Missouri, some of whom voted you in the governor's office."
But Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson says even if the cuts are passed, Missouri will still spend 26 percent of its state budget on social services.