By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Missouri's cuts to Medicaid disproportionately affect women according to a national organization's analysis.
The National Women's Law Center found that women make up 79 percent of the adults on the program who are not elderly or disabled.
Vice President of the center, Judy Waxman, says Missouri's cuts made by legislators this year are more drastic than almost every other state.
The big cut in Missouri which lowered the eligibility income level from 75 percent of poverty, which is really just $12,000 a year for a family of three, down to 22 percent of poverty which is $3,500 is really the largest cut any state has made, Waxman said.
A mother with two children now can earn no more than $292 a month to maintain eligibility in the health care program.
Waxman says she hopes the report brings attention to the plight of low-income families and prevents further cuts.