Health care advocates are worried about mid-year cuts to Missouri's budget. As the economy falters, more residents will depend on the state for health care services.

A meeting here on Wednesday about Missouri's projected $340 million revenue shortfall this fiscal year left most attendees with the same thinking: cuts are coming, and some of Gov.-elect Jay Nixon's biggest campaign promises may be dead in the water, or at least on hold.

The median deductible required by Kansas City area employers for employees to participate in preferred provider organization health plans jumped to $1,000 this year from $500 last year.

As jobless numbers reach levels not seen in 25 years, another crisis is unfolding for millions of people who lost their health insurance along with their jobs, joining the ranks of the uninsured.

In between the tree trimming and gift-giving, President-elect Barack Obama is inviting Americans to spend part of the holiday season talking about health care -- and report back to him.

The trade group for health insurers on Wednesday offered its own universal-coverage proposal that calls for Congress to slow the growth of health-care costs by 30 percent in five years, envisioning a total savings of more than $500 billion.

The latest news is available at
www.CoverMissouri.org

In the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), the uninsured population in Missouri decreased from 772,000 to 729,000 from 2007 to 2008. However, the 2008 estimate of Missouri’s uninsured is still a 9 percent increase since 2006. Furthermore, while the percentage of uninsured adults 18 to 64 years of age decreased in 2008, the percentage of uninsured children and seniors increased from 2007 to 2008.

The 2008 CPS number of 729,000 uninsured Missourians provides an estimate of the number of people who did not have any type of health coverage for the entire previous calendar year. These estimates include:

• 12.6% of Missourians are uninsured, or 729,000 persons
  
  
• 14.3% of Missourians under 65 are uninsured, or 721,000 persons
  
  
• 10.4% of Missouri’s children under 18 are uninsured, or 150,000 children
  

Compared to individuals with health insurance, uninsured individuals receive fewer screenings and less preventive care, lack needed medical care, receive less care for serious illnesses and chronic conditions, enter the health care system in poorer health, and ultimately have worse health outcomes.

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