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JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
Another 204 Million dollars is now being slashed from Missouri's budget and another 700 state workers are losing their jobs. The latest round of cuts brings the total slashed from next year's budget to an astonishing 690 million dollars. The latest round hits Medicaid recipients, their doctors, and the mentally ill the hardest.
Missouri Budget Director Linda Luebbering has been in state government since 1985. She says it's the worst financial situation in recent history, "I would say that the budget situation this time is above and beyond what the state has experienced in decades."
Medicaid payments could be cut to nursing homes, that are often reluctant to take Medicaid patients anyway.
There will also be 13 million dollars in state aid cuts to the basic life sciences research.
The Missouri Mental Health Department will absorb a 15 million dollar budget hit.
Also included in the cuts, 20 million dollars for maintenance of state facilities and seven million in state aid for the arts.
A little less than ten percent of the total state budget has been cut so far. More cuts could be coming.
The Missouri Budget Project estimates that the state will face around a half-a-billion dollar budget shortfall next year.
Medicaid payments could be cut to nursing homes, that are often reluctant to take Medicaid patients anyway.
There will also be 13 million dollars in state aid cuts to the basic life sciences research.
The Missouri Mental Health Department will absorb a 15 million dollar budget hit.
Also included in the cuts, 20 million dollars for maintenance of state facilities and seven million in state aid for the arts.
A little less than ten percent of the total state budget has been cut so far. More cuts could be coming.
The Missouri Budget Project estimates that the state will face around a half-a-billion dollar budget shortfall next year.
