Missouri Medicaid Expansion: Don't Count the Chickens Until They're Hatched
Missouri Dept of Social Services chart showing current Medicaid (MO HealthNet) enrollment and expenses. (click image for full size) I attended a Local Investment Commission (LINC) meeting last week and listened to a detailed report on the Medicaid expansion options for Missouri under the Affordable Care Act. The expansion seems like a no-brainer option for Missouri with a significant increase in low-income people covered under health insurance. However, a Republican-controlled legislature in Missouri promises to make this a tough fight. As many as 300,000 people , mostly low-income families, would gain access to health care at a minimal cost to the state during the first five years of the expansion. Forget the anti-tax, "small government" talk, extending Medicaid coverage means an improved quality of life for lower-income people -- the most crucial element of the extension. Medicaid, as Brian Kinkade, interim director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, i...