Senator Seeks Funding to Help Brain Injury Victims
Senator Bill Stoufer of Napton has asked the Missouri state legislature to pass a bill adding comprehensive day rehabilitation services to the Medicaid program now called Missouri Healthnet. Stoufer, the husband of a brain injury victim, hopes his story will help influence the legislature to look favorably on the proposed bill.
Four years ago his wife suffered a traumatic brain injury. While she was being treated, the Stouffers got to know a high school girl who was left in a near-vegetative state for several months. With the help of early intervention and extensive rehabilitative services, she was able to get back to the point where she could function as a teenager.
Depending on the injury, a person often has to be retrained to do even the most routine things such as tying shoestrings or putting groceries into cabinets. Injured people currently get limited outpatient therapy from Missouri hospitals, but that service doesn’t last long and without the extra Medicaid funding, many families can’t afford continued rehab services that could help victims lead full, normal lives.
People like Senator Bill Stoufer are doing their best to make a difference for those who have suffered through a serious personal injury like brain trauma. However, the costs associated with the care that results from accidents that cause these injuries can be exorbitant. While it is important that our government’s social services have contingencies in place to help those without the means to pay for extended medical care, it isn’t something that a victim of an accident that results in a brain injury should count on.
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