Subject: Medicaid

• Doctors' Orders?

  John Ashcroft says he pushed for "the real" patients' bill of rights. But who's the real John Ashcroft?

  August 31, 2000

• Neglect Is a Misdemeanor

  February 15, 2001

• Senator Luann Ridgeway: Patron Saint of Missouri Motorcyclists

  If Governor Jay Nixon signs Senate Bill 202 into law, Missouri motorcyclists over 21years of age will no longer be bound by law to wear helmets when they ride, except on state highways. Cyclists who love the feel of the wind in their hair (and hate to have government regulations weighing on their handlebars) have Clay County Republican Sen. Luann Ridgeway to thank if the helmet law dies at Nixon's hands this month. Ridgeway says that she's been trying to bury Missouri's helmet law since shortly

  June 2, 2009

• Stomach Upsets

  March 11, 2004

• Rally against Medicaid cuts

  Right about now, scores of Missourians are shaking their piggy banks at state legislators in Jefferson City. When former Governor Matt Blunt kicked thousands off the Medicaid roles in 2005, disabled and elderly residents were told to do without basics like hearing aids. The outrage over the cuts led to animated protests, with activists dumping prosthetic limbs in the rotunda and chaining themselves to the doors of the House chambers. Today, advocates are

  February 25, 2009

• Best State Legislator, Missouri

  October 7, 2004

• Corps Vet Simmer

  May 5, 2005

• As Kathleen Sebelius leaves to help Barack Obama reform health care in Washington, here’s a checkup on what happened in Kansas

  April 9, 2009

• Letters From the Week of September 25

  September 25, 2008

• Letters

  September 18, 2008

• Did Sen. Chris Koster plant a fake Missouri AG candidate?

  April 3, 2008

• Did Sen. Chris Koster plant Molly Korth Williams as a fake candidate for Missouri attorney general?

  March 27, 2008

• Royal Flush

  March 30, 2006

• Not Hiring

  August 16, 2007

• The Blight King

  August 17, 2006

• Laundry Rooms

  February 16, 2006

• The Dark Ages

  Let's hope we don't see another year ruled by superstition.

  December 29, 2005

• The Big Sell

  October 13, 2005

• Backwash

  September 8, 2005

• Backwash

  September 1, 2005

• Blunt Trauma

  Crappy cuts to the poor make us wonder -- what would Claire do?

  May 12, 2005

• Playing Defense

  Matt Bartle was such a good soccer dad, some parents had no idea he’d betray them so callously.

  April 14, 2005

• Backwash

  We drag the river for stuff you didn't know you were missing.

  March 3, 2005

• False Docs

  KU Medical Center gets a taste of bad medicine.

  April 8, 2004

• Dude Where's the Party

  Local Democrats cross political lines to support their favorite pork producer — Senator Kit Bond.

  January 8, 2004

• Mary Quite Contrary

  In the battle over school funding, moderate Johnson County Republicans say Mary Pilcher Cook is their worst teachers' pest.

  July 18, 2002

• Sudden Death

  Norma Hunsucker's children remained faithful to their schizophrenic mother, but they missed her final exit.

  February 14, 2002

• Head Games

  The patients aren't the only ones doing crazy things at Western Missouri Mental Health.

  August 23, 2001

• Impractical Nursing

  Death and mayhem visit Kansas City's biggest hospital chain.

  July 26, 2001

• Poor Diagnosis

  It just doesn’t pay to find a tumor in a poor woman.

  May 31, 2001

• The Factory Life

  Thousands of Missourians with lifelong disabilities work for just a few cents an hour. Somebody has to do it.

  February 15, 2001

• Kidney recipient in a 'pay or die' situation

  Kidney-transplant patient Harold Allen spends a lot of time searching for money to buy the antirejection drugs he needs to stay alive.

  April 27, 2000

• A community hidden but close

  Kansas City's homeless community is just that _ a community, and one that may be tighter than most. But in terms of their humanity, homeless people often are the same as us working slobs.

  February 24, 2000

• Scenes from the health-care struggle in Jefferson City

  June 11, 2009

• Does Rob Schaaf regret comparing health insurance to slavery?

  It's safe to say that one of the top three jaw-dropping moments from the 2009 session of the Missouri General Assembly was when St. Joseph Rep. Rob Schaaf compared health insurance for children to slavery in the 19th Century. Now, you might think that Schaaf, a Republican, got caught up in the heat of the moment -- the debate about health care expansion certainly got heated. Perhaps, after the outrage from his Democratic colleagues, he felt some twinge of regret about the controversial sta

  June 10, 2009

• One Republican state rep who gives us hope on health care reform

  While spending time at the Missouri Capitol, working on this week's feature story, just about every Democratic lawmaker and staffer I spoke to in the House of Representatives emphasized that expanding health-care access had united the sometimes-fractious Democratic Party like no other issue. Rep. Ryan SilveyThat same group think was operating on the other side of the aisle, as well. The House Republicans all dug their heels into the same ideological cement and refused to restor

  June 12, 2009

• Todd Tiahrt wants to unbalance Kansas' budget

  Kelly KultalaTodd TiahrtKansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt and his perfectly coiffed hair want to repeal the federal economic stimulus plan. Last week, Tiahrt started running TV commercials (did you know he's running for U.S. Senate?) saying so. We've mentioned that maybe Tiahrt would like to try to balance Kansas' budget without those funds, which got us thinking: How hard would it have been without the money? So we called Kansas state Sen. Kelly Kultala, who worked on the budget."There's no way th

  July 1, 2009

• Newt shoots Brian Yates a thumbs-up

  Center for Health TransformationGingrich​Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House and the rare conservative who likes to promote new ideas, was in St. Louis today to commend state Rep. Brian Yates (R-Lee's Summit) and two other Missouri lawmakers for a bill that targets Medicare and Medicaid fraud.One of Gingrich's gigs these days is the Center for Health Transformation, a for-profit association of health care providers. The association believes that fraud and waste account for $100 bil

  July 28, 2009

• Kansas City priest criticizes Bishop Finn for opposition to health-care reform

  Catholic NewsBishop Robert Finn​The National Catholic Reporter has posted a letter from Kansas City priest Father Michael J. Gillgannon criticizing the leadership of Bishop Robert W. Finn. More than any other subject, Gillgannon's letter expresses deep concerns for Finn's opposition to health-care reform. He also takes Finn to task for trying to drag the church back to pre-Vatican II culture and firing staff."You give the impression you are not working from a pastoral model of u

  September 18, 2009