Kansas City Star: “Republican lawmakers blocked Medicaid expansion funding from reaching the Missouri House floor on Thursday, posing a setback for the voter-approved plan to increase eligibility for the state health care program. The House Budget Committee voted along party lines not to pass a bill allowing Missouri to spend $130 million in state funds and $1.6 billion in federal money to pay for the program’s expansion. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government picks up 90% of the tab on expanding Medicaid. The increased eligibility would allow an estimated 230,000 additional low-income Missourians to be covered. It is set to go into effect in July, after voters approved a ballot question last August with a 53% majority. Democrats slammed the vote as an attempt to subvert Missourians’ wishes to implement the expansion, which several Republicans said was unpopular in their own districts.”

“Democrats plan to re-introduce the funds into the rest of the state budget on the House floor. Budget Chair Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican, said he will introduce another bill to spend the money elsewhere. Ranking member Rep. Peter Merideth, a University City Democrat, has warned that the move to reject expansion would leave the entire Missouri Medicaid program, known as MO HealthNet, underfunded when thousands more become eligible. Not going forward with the expansion, which is now part of the state constitution, could land the state in court. Republicans, citing the cost, have long resisted expanding Medicaid in Missouri, one of about a dozen states that haven’t extended eligibility for the health plan.”