JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.--Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed Medicaid reform legislation last week that would eliminate coverage for most adult DME. While some of these services could be funded through the state legislature's budget, the governor threatened to use his line-item veto power if too many changes are made.

The new law, which takes effect Aug. 28, also will remove 100,000 beneficiaries from the program rolls and scale back coverage levels to the minimum required by the federal government.

While the law takes away the requirement for Medicaid to fund DME, the legislature appears to be willing to restore some services. Last month, the House passed a budget that would fund equipment including wheelchairs, oxygen and artificial limbs, but not other products like canes, crutches, catheters and commodes. The Senate is still debating its budget and has proposed adding even more services, which prompted a warning from Blunt: "If I received a budget that in multiple instances expanded the [Medicaid] program beyond what was in [the newly signed law], I would indeed use the line-item veto."

In protest to the signing of the legislation, eight people chained their wheelchairs to a door in the Missouri state capitol on Thursday. At one point during the more than two-hour demonstration, an estimated 100 people blocked the doorway as they chanted to meet with Blunt. Many disabled Missourians claim the legislation will prevent them from living independently and force them into nursing homes.