Blunt calls for health care reform, more funding for schools

Blunt detailed his vision for health care, education and Social Security last night in his State of the State Address.

Blunt’s plan calls for offering tax incentives to employers who provide health insurance to their workers, and allowing employers and employees to pay insurance premiums with tax-free dollars.

Other elements of the plan include improved laws that would allow workers to take their insurance with them when they switch jobs, and pooling purchasing power of the uninsured to help them buy insurance.

He also outlined a plan to cut the franchise tax for employers who provide health insurance to their workers, and he proposed raising the deduction for long-term care insurance from 50 percent to 100 percent.

Blunt also said he intends to replace the state’s Medicaid system with a new program called MO HealthNet. While the program would still provide low-income Missourians with access to health care, it would place emphasis on prevention and wellness – as a step to cut the cost of care.

“With HealthNet, for the first time in Missouri history, we will guarantee that every participant has access to primary and preventative care,” Blunt said.

The plan also calls for expanding coverage to employed people with disabilities and to foster children until they turn 21. Foster children currently are eligible for benefits until age 18.

Blunt pushed for education increases, as well, calling for $214 million in funding, in addition to $332 million allocated for education since he took office three years ago. That increase would mean about $3.4 million for Missouri State University, with an additional $500,000 for MSU’s West Plains campus, and $500,000 in one-time funds and $500,000 in recurring funds for the cooperative engineering program between MSU and the University of Missouri-Rolla.

In his address, Blunt also gave his support for House Speaker Rod Jetton’s legislation to end the Social Security tax that cuts into senior citizens’ benefits.