Tagged: Jay Nixon

Kansas City, MO – Psychologists, in-home care providers for the disabled, and drug abuse counselors in Missouri are facing a two percent payment reduction from the state. Last week, Governor Jay Nixon announced the move as part of a response to declining revenues.

Alan Flory is head of Rediscover, a community mental health center in Jackson County. He says there's no simple answer to the state's fiscal situation, but he says the reduction now means Rediscover will have less ability to respond to people in need of immediate help.

Jefferson City, MO – Mental Health officials in Missouri are awaiting word if Governor Jay Nixon will cut their budget even more than lawmakers did this year.

Of the $484 million lawmakers cut from the state budget in April, nearly $26 million came from the Department of Mental Health, which oversees programs dealing with psychiatric health, drug and alcohol abuse, and Medicaid patients.

Kansas City, Mo. – While Missouri's state senators were playing golf on a day off at the Lake of the Ozarks, Governor Nixon was talking to them - from Claycomo. Governor Nixon was in town promoting a bill that would give Ford Motor Company tax credits for keeping its Claycomo plant open and developing new assembly lines there.

Ford has announced that the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner, Claycomo's two sales stars, will be produced elsewhere and hasn't announced any models for production at the Kansas City plant.

Cape Girardeau, Mo. – Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has signed into law a bill requiring insurance companies to make timely payments to medical providers.

The so-called "prompt pay" bill imposes penalties on insurance companies for excessive delays in payment to providers. The law bans the practice of suspending claims, which the Governor describes as a limbo state where the claim is neither approved nor denied. The bill also establishes delinquency penalties on insurance companies when payment is not received within 45 days.

Kansas City, Mo. – Another 1,000 Missouri state employees are going to lose their jobs in the coming weeks. Governor Jay Nixon spoke of the cuts as he met with UMKC faculty and students.

Kansas City, Mo. – Missouri Governor Jay Nixon says the recent news of significantly smaller than expected revenues will mean some challenging choices for the state. The governor says he and other lawmakers are considering a number of ways to deal with the problem.