Challenging Budget, Challenging Times
Presented by Amy Blouin
Session Overview
Missouri faces a Learn about what’s happening with Missouri has a $2 billion shortfall.
Following a decade of tax cuts, Missouri is now facing a severe budget crisis including a $2 billion shortfall in the next year. To address this shortfall, the Governor’s budget proposal includes cuts to Medicaid, health and mental health services that will impact access to dental care. At the same time, the implementation of the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Act threatens to result in 178,000 Missourians losing Medicaid, impacting access to care. Lawmakers are considering tax proposals that would magnify the crisis, and result in an additional $5 billion cut to the state budget. This session will cover all of these issues, the impact on oral health and how you can help.
Learning Objectives
Participants will learn:
- About the impact of state budget and tax policy decisions on access to comprehensive healthcare, including oral health;
- About proposals before state policymakers that could ameliorate the crisis and proposals that could worsen the crisis; and
- How they can engage in educating lawmakers in order to inform good decision-making.
Amy Blouin
President, Founder & CEO, Missouri Budget Project
Amy Blouin founded the Missouri Budget Project in 2003 and serves as its President & CEO. Amy has a Master of Social Work from St. Louis University (1996) and a BA in Political Science and Religious Studies from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa (1991). Amy previously served as the Director of Advocacy for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and as Government Relations Staff for the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Amy has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Saint Louis University, spent time working in Central America, and worked with the Iowa Department of Economic Development European Office in Frankfurt, Germany.
Amy has worked on state tax and fiscal policy issues for more than 25 years and has received regional and statewide recognition for her work. In 2012, the St. Louis Business Journal named Amy “One of the Most Influential St. Louisans.” Other awards include a “40 Under 40” award from the St. Louis Business Journal and the Missouri Women’s Network 2010 Award for Advancing Women’s Equality.