51ÊÓƵ

For weeks, Senate Appropriations chairman Kurt Schaefer seemed determined to make major changes to Missouri’s Medicaid program. In the end, the federal health insurance program for the state’s poorest citizens emerged largely unscathed. Leading up to the Missouri Senate’s vote Thursday to approve its version of the state’s $27 billion budget, Schaefer repeatedly railed against projected Medicaid cost increases. ... Yet the budget for the Missouri Department of Social Services approved by the Senate on Thursday trimmed only about $57 million from the more than $7.9 billion proposed by the governor for Medicaid. (Hancock, 4/10)

The state made mistakes on more than 9 million adjusted Medicaid payments reviewed in a recent audit, the federal government says. Those mistakes, it adds, cost the federal government $1.5 million over five years — money the state should repay. The stated denies the audit’s findings, saying the payments were correct. (Bonner, 4/8)