Speaking from the Missouri Career Center in Springfield yesterday, Gov. Jay Nixon renewed his call for Medicaid expansion in the state.
Nixon has supported the measure during the past two sessions, and promoted expansion in his 2013-15 State of the State addresses. However, the General Assembly has continued to deny passage of legislation, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
Yesterday, Nixon pointed to other Republican-led legislatures in Indiana, Iowa and Utah as examples of states where Medicaid reform has been implemented. At the end of February, 28 states and Washington, D.C., had expanded Medicaid, according to Nixon.
“Across the country, Republican governors and legislators are bringing their tax dollars home and implementing innovative market-based reforms to Medicaid, while Missouri gets left behind,” Nixon said in a news release. “These reforms would protect taxpayers, reward work and demand personal responsibility – but we can’t implement them if we continue to stand still and send our tax dollars to other states.”
Nixon said reforming the state’s Medicaid system would lessen the burden on small businesses paying for employee health insurance. Employers with over 100 employees must now provide coverage or pay a penalty, and businesses with over 50 employees will be affected next year. Nixon said passing reform would allow Medicaid to pay roughly 60 percent of the cost of health premiums for eligible employees.
Under reforms, Nixon said Medicaid also would:
- create a net positive impact in fiscal 2016 of $117 million and $1.7 billion during the next decade;
- provide coverage to 300,000 Missourians making up to $27,000 a year for a family of three; and
- reward those seeking work - reforms in Pennsylvania and proposed reforms in Utah and Florida require those refusing or actively seeking work to pay higher premiums.
The Missouri House gave first-round approval to a $26.1 billion budget this week for fiscal 2016, but it did not include Medicaid expansion, according to reporting by
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