April - Missouri Optometric Association

April 2010
MOA Goes To
Washington
On March 2-4, Missouri Optometric
Association members joined more than 400
ODs and optometry students in Washington
DC to promote optometry’s message to our
legislators.
Optometry as a profession has to remain
ever vigilant to the laws and policies that
affect our ability to care for our patients
and provide our patients with access to our
care.
We have to stay active both in Jefferson
City and Washington, DC.
The Missouri delegation of ODs included:
MOA Delegation with Senator Claire McCaskill.
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Dr. LeeAnn Barrett
Dr. Tom Cullinane
Dr. Scott Burks
Dr. Wes Kemp
Dr. Howard McAlister
Dr. Ryan Powell
Dr. Jeff Weaver
UMSL students who attended the event
were:
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Tonia Batts
Hanna Kim
Faith Maschmann
Remi Milajavac
Tareq Nabhan
Evan Strong
Tuesday Warner
Alan Wegener
Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer with Dr. Scott Burks &
Jay Hahn.
MOA Assistant Executive Director Jay Hahn and several AOA staff members also joined us for
the Hill visits.
We had the opportunity to visit with all of Missouri’s legislators and shared with them our
concerns about Medicare reimbursement, patient access to care and non-discrimination
language in any healthcare reform legislation, including optometry in the National Health
Service Corps and asking them to sign on to the Optometric Equity in Medicaid Act.
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It is more important than ever that we continue to stay involved on the national political scene
as many of the access issues are now dictated on the federal level.