MO chamber reluctantly backs Medicaid expansion

Noting the state has little choice, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday backed Medicaid expansion.

“Our hands have been tied by Obamacare,” chamber President Dan Mehan said in a news release. “We don’t like it, we don’t agree with many of the tenants of it, but Obamacare is law - whether we like it or not, we have to abide by it.  

"The only choice we have is to decide if it is going to cost the employer community a lot, or a whole lot more."

Though the release cited the chamber's opposition to the Affordable Care Act, officials noted the Missouri business community would be left with the receipt from hospital cost shifts without approval of Medicaid expansion.

The release pointed to a report released this week by the Missouri Hospital Association, which found that without Medicaid expansion, the cost to state hospital providing care to the uninsured would nearly triple to $3.5 billion annually by 2019. Such costs, described as a  "hidden tax," would be passed on to businesses and individuals who purchase commercial insurance coverage, according to the report.

“Hospitals will experience $4.2 billion in cuts between 2013 and 2020. Cuts to hospitals through the Affordable Care Act and subsequent legislation will significantly reduce hospitals’ ability to provide uncompensated care at the present level,” MHA President and CEO Herb Kuhn said in a news release. “Without additional Medicaid coverage, hospitals will continue to experience a high level of uncompensated care and fewer dollars to provide that care.”

During the last decade, Missouri hospitals provided $10.5 billion in uncompensated care, the report said.