St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Op-ed by Judy Baker, Missouri State Representative, 25th District
Oops, they did it again! In a Brittany Spearsesque sense, the disabled community was once again led on to believe the Governor and the legislature’s leadership would restore at least a portion of the malevolent cuts to the Medical Assistance for the Working Disabled program made last year. The devices of the majority party have left the working disabled citizens of Missouri out in the cold once again.
The majority leadership promised early in the session to “fast track” a critical overhaul and restoration of the MAWD program and the Non-Medicaid Eligible Program. These programs would have served about 8200 disabled Missouri citizens allowing them to return to the workplace and employ assistants to manage their activities of daily living.
Both of these programs were designed to be “buy-in” programs and required some contribution on the part of the recipient. Seems fair. What one must know is that for the individuals that these programs serve there is no other insurance option that is affordable.
For so many, the only other option is to leave the workplace in order to then qualify for straight Medicaid. Failure to pass these programs results in potentially higher expenditures by the state. Even more importantly, it results in citizens desperate to enjoy the “dignity of work” to retreat from gainful employment. For these, our neighbors, family, and friends the barriers to work are steep enough without having to worry about where needed medical attention might come from.
There was bipartisan support for both program restorations and, frankly, it is inexcusable that these two measures, passed early in the session, were taken hostage and used as leverage between the egos of the House and Senate. It was distressing to see the advocates for the disabled of our communities down at the capitol wringing their hands all day on the last day of session in hopes that their worst fears would not realized.
To top off this insult, the money for the programs is already appropriated in next year’s budget and now will simply lapse (go totally unused) until next year. Where is the indignation? This event went largely unreported in the flurry of news from session. For these 8,200 citizens it meant the world!
Well, the majority did manage to pass the bills of self-interest on the last day. We did manage to get a bill that will cause confusion and voter suppression in November without addressing any root causes of perceived voter fraud. Also, we got a bill removing limits on giving to candidates’ campaigns. Seems these were the priorities for this leadership while Missouri’s disabled citizens once again get the shaft.
Download of op-ed available.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE: Jan. 20, 2004 Contact: Judy Baker
Home – 256-1207
Baker declares candidacy
for 25 th Missouri House district
COLUMBIA – Columbia business owner Judy Baker announced today that she plans to file for the Democratic Party nomination for the 25th district of the Missouri House of Representatives.
Baker, 43, owner of the consulting firm Cura Healthsystem Solutions, brings a diverse background in business, health care, education and community involvement to the race. She said that, if elected, she will advocate for improved health care for children and to strengthen the state’s elementary, secondary and higher education efforts.
As a parent and as someone who is involved in many facets of the community, I am committed to improving health care and educational opportunities for our children and youth,” Baker said. “Those are priorities almost all of us can agree upon and I am eager to put my diverse experience to work on the challenges facing Missourians.
Baker said her 20-year career in health-care administration has emphasized strategic planning, problem solving and team building, qualities that will allow her to work with fellow legislators to identify realistic solutions to meet common goals in difficult economic times. Before founding Cura Healthsystem Solutions in 2002, Baker was an administrator for MU Health Care, serving as interim executive director of MU’s University Physicians practice plan and as director of operations at Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City. On a part-time basis, she continues to teach managerial economics at Columbia College and consults and serves as administrative director for A Call To Serve International, a not-for-profit, humanitarian organization, dedicated to building partnerships that benefit the country of Georgia.
Baker said she first felt a call to public service as a child and received a balanced political grounding from her father, Dr. Norman Wall, a military physician who advocated fiscal responsibility, and her mother, Beverly Briggs Wall, a supporter of environmental stewardship and gun control. A self-described moderate, Baker said she expects her open and reasoned approach to issues will increase her appeal across party lines.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1981, Baker attended Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where she earned a master of divinity in 1986. She completed a master’s degree through MU’s Health Services Management Executive Program in 2002.
She and her husband, Dr. John D. Baker, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbia, have three children: Sarah, 17, a junior at Rock Bridge High School; Lauren, 15, a freshman at Jefferson Junior High; and David, 11, a sixth-grader at Gentry Middle School.
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Download a PDF version of this press release.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE: April 26, 2004 Contact: Judy Baker
Home – 256-1207
from disqualification list
COLUMBIA – After an acknowledged mix-up by the Missouri Ethics Commission, Judy Baker is officially back in the race for the 25th District seat in the state House of Representatives.
Late last week, the commission released a list of candidates’ names, including Baker’s, who had been disqualified for not turning in a personal financial disclosure statement by the April 20 deadline. The Democrat said she was surprised to learn that news because she had mailed in her completed statement several days prior to the deadline.
“I had a really long weekend after hearing my name was printed in the Jefferson City newspaper as someone who had not filed the necessary form,” Baker said. “But I was sure that fairness would prevail in the end.”
When Baker called the commission this morning, she was told that her completed form, postmarked April 16, had indeed been received in time. The commission apparently had misrecorded her information because, as a trustee for the state’s Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund, she was listed in two different databases. Baker received a fax from the commission’s executive director expressing his apologies.
“They have a record of my postmarked letter, and they will inform the Secretary of State's Office. I am still in the race!” Baker wrote to her supporters in an e-mail message this morning.
Baker said it’s a relief not to have to go to court to ask for reinstatement – or to risk losing her spot on the August ballot. She currently leads her fellow Democratic candidates in fundraising by a healthy margin.