Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Stefanick voted to cut others' healthcare, but not her own

The gesture by Rep. Trent Skaggs, D-Kansas City, was a small one, but a symbolic one. On April 13, Skaggs offered an amendment to House Bill 5, which would have reduced health care coverage for Missouri legislators.
As I noted in the April 14 Turner Report, Skaggs submitted an amendment to trim $281,602 from the appropriations bill for legislators' insurance. The amendment was defeated by a vote of
78 to 75, with those voting to keep the benefits for lawmakers, including area legislators Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, Ron Richard, R-Joplin, Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, and Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City. The only two area legislators to vote to cut their benefits were Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, and Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar.
Among those who opted to keep the benefits was Rep. Jodi Stefanick, R-Ballwin, who resigned as a state representative this week to take a post in the Blunt Administration as senior health care policy advisor. Ms. Stefanick, it should be noted, not only voted to cut Medicaid benefits for poor Missourians, but also was a major player when it came to the crafting of that legislation. As mentioned earlier in The Turner Report, she also has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from medical, health and insurance special interest groups.

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