Missouri abandons voter-approved Medicaid expansion

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

Less than a year after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment expanding Medicaid coverage, Gov. Mike Parson (R) said Thursday he will drop plans to implement the expansion after legislators refused to provide funding.

Parson sent a letter to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) formally withdrawing plans to expand MO HealthNet, the state's Medicaid program. He said the legislature's refusal to fund the expansion threatened the entire program's fiscal solvency.

"Although I was never in support of MO HealthNet expansion, I always said that I would uphold the ballot amendment if it passed. The majority of Missouri voters supported it, and we included funds for the expansion in our budget proposal," Parson said in a statement. "However, without a revenue source or funding authority from the General Assembly, we are unable to proceed with the expansion at this time."

Voters approved the amendment to the state constitution, which would have expanded Medicaid eligibility to those whose income was under 138 percent of the federal poverty level under the Affordable Care Act, by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin in August 2020.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/missouri-abandons-voter-approved-medicaid-expansion/ar-BB1gHjkb?li=BBnb7Kz

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Republicans no longer believe in democracy.

[Bleacher Creature]

1. WTAF?? How is this legal?

[SWBTATTReg]

2. A lot of MO voters including me and many others are wondering the same question too. I'm angry

Last edited Thu May 13, 2021, 01:17 PM - Edit history (1)

that a bunch of thugs in Jeff. City are ignoring the will of the people, basically saying that Missouri voters don't know what's good/best for them. That sentiment really ticks me off. For those of you who are even remotely thinking about electing or voting for a republican, don't. Your rights will immediately start being ignored, degraded, etc. because of these thugs may think it's a bad thing for Missouri, etc. This pisses me off so much that I can't see straight.

We passed a favorable animal rights bill too (or amendment), this got ignored too even though it passed too ... the legislators said that voters didn't know what was best for farmers, puppy mills, etc.

I wanted to add more information on the efforts that republican legislators in MO have been enacting on their own, these restrictive measures to limit voters' rights to propose Amendments, etc. Talk about being afraid of their own voters...Missouri will now be known as the Gateway state to Hell. Send help! And I'd like to ask a question here...where are the Democrats (the national party org.)? Perhaps our state democrats need some guidance and/or help w/ our state organizations so we can beef up our legislative presence in MO.

By the way, the below was enclosed in a letter to the editor in the Riverfront Times. It was a pretty damn good editorial.

--snip--
Regarding the editorial “Missouri GOP wants to make it easier to deceive voters and harder for them to speak” (March 14): Our state Legislature is working against us. They are considering legislation to undermine amendments and proposals Missouri voters have passed, and to make it harder to petition to add items to the ballot. The following info. is from the Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper that is in St. Louis MO...

In 2018, voters approved the Clean Missouri measure that included redistricting reforms that were planned to go into effect in 2020. Our lawmakers sabotaged that last year with the duplicitous Amendment 3 that voters also approved, which repealed Clean Missouri.

House Bill 726 is another attempt to circumvent an amendment we voted for, by stopping the minimum-wage increase voters approved in 2018. This bill would tie the Missouri minimum wage to the paltry $7.25 per hour federal rate, instead of raising it to $12 an hour by 2023.

Other pending legislation is aimed at making the initiative petition process even more difficult. Possibly threatened by the success of bringing important measures to the ballot like raising the minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana and expansion of Medicaid access, our legislature is trying to make the petition process all but impossible.
...
--snip--

[turbinetree]

7. Sounds like the MO state legislature has gone full fascist's

[Ray Bruns]

3. this happens for one simple reason.

The same people who vote for these initiatives, on election day walk right into the voting booth and vote for republicans. Plain and simple.

[Gamecock Lefty]

4. SWBTATTReg is right!!!

I live in west STL county. I love how many times the legislatures think we (the voters) have no clue what we're doing!

But what really gets me is none of these conservatives ever pay a price for their actions. They are never held accountable and NEVER held to the same standard as the Dems.

Hawley can raise his freaking fist and never pay a price for that.

It's mind boggling. And almost makes you want to give up at times, you know?

[Sherman A1]

11. North County here

And you are spot on.

[GB_RN]

5. File Suit

Force the issue. A judge can force the legislature to fund it.

[MarcA]

6. Is the Legislature controlled by a Gerrymandered majority?

This could be a reason for the majority of the citizens narrowly voting one way and then the Legislature opposing it.

[LiberatedUSA]

8. This really pisses me off.

Our state voted for this!

This lets me know what will happen when the voters say we want recreational marijuana. It will get approved in voting, then the ones in Jeff City will strike it down.

[Mysterian]

9. A crime against the people

Why do people vote for assholes who refuse them affordable medical care?

[Solly Mack]

10. So fuck the voters unless they vote our way?

How is that even legal?

How is that not an infringement on the civil rights of the voters?

How is that not abrogation of a government for,by,of the people?

How is that not the complete dismissal of the will of the people?

So if the voters vote them out, they get to decide to just remain in office?

[dalton99a]

12. Elections Don't Matter

is what they're saying

[dalton99a]

13. Kick

The same study found the Medicaid expansion was most likely to result in budget savings for the state. That counterintuitive finding, which has been observed in other states, is explained by demand shifting from other public programs that are more expensive for the state, as more people opt for expansion coverage, which is largely funded by the federal government.

The Affordable Care Act requires the federal government to cover 90% of the cost of expanded eligibility.

On top of that, the new federal stimulus package signed by President Biden in March pitches in another 5% as an incentive for states that had yet to expand Medicaid when the bill was enacted, including Missouri. That would have saved the state an additional $1 billion, according to a federal estimate.

But Republicans in Missouri have long complained about what they say is an unaffordable expense, even as the state has an estimated $1.1 billion budget surplus.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996611586/missouri-will-not-expand-medicaid-despite-voters-wishes-governor-says