SPRINGFIELD -- Attorney General
Jay Nixon was here on Friday, pledging to restore all state Medicaid cuts if
he’s elected governor next year.  Nixon
hosted a healthcare roundtable, one of a series that he’s been holding around
the state to refocus the public's attention on the Medicaid cuts that Gov. Matt
Blunt and the Missouri Legislature enacted in 2005.

  “My parents taught me at a
very young age that the taxpayers have invested a lot in me,” said Mike Cook.

  With cerebral palsy, Cook has
spent most of his life in a wheelchair.  But,
determined to work, he studied many hours to become a chaplain at St. John's
Hospital.

  “I was so thrilled; it was an
accomplishment of a lifetime,” he said.

  But, Cook says, Blunt's
Medicaid cuts of 2005 essentially took his work away.  Just to maintain his Medicaid eligibility cost him too much,
so he quit.

  “If you work and are willing
to work, you should be rewarded for that conduct, not penalized for that
conduct,” said Nixon.

  Nixon likely will be Blunt's
opponent in the race for governor in the general election next November. 
Nixon's top campaign priority is not only restoring the Medicaid cuts for poor
and disabled people but also expanding eligibility for anyone willing to work.

  “We need coverage for all of
us,” he said.

   Blunt's political
spokesman, John Hancock, says Nixon's plan would amount to a huge tax increase.

  “To do what Jay Nixon is
proposing would cost almost $1 billion in new tax revenue. 
Missouri can't afford that.  There
is no reform in the proposal Jay Nixon is offering,” Hancock said in a
telephone interview.

   Nixon contends the tax
hike argument is just a scare tactic and points to a $200 million state budget
surplus that could be used to help people like Cook get back to work.

  “Matt Blunt and the
Republican legislature kept $200 million back last year. 
Look at it; they clearly said that. 
They're not going to spend that money. 
They're going to save that for the election year, so they can put out a
few goodies and make people feel like things are getting better. 
You bet the money is there,” said Nixon.

  Blunt's spokesman also said,
once the governor's Medicaid reforms are fully implemented, the people in that
room on Friday will be very thankful because more people will have health
insurance.

  I'll be posting much more of my
Q & A with Jay Nixon on our political
blog.