MO AG: Lawmakers not obligated to fund Medicaid expansion

Missouri lawmakers were not obligated to fund Medicaid expansion, even though it was approved by 53% of voters.

The Missouri Independent also reports that Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt’s office argues the courts cannot force the state to pay the medical bills of people who would be eligible under an initiative that amended the state constitution.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson dropped plans last month to expand the state’s Medicaid health care program to thousands of low-income adults after the Republican-led Legislature refused to provide funding for it.

Parson said his administration had withdrawn a request to expand coverage that had been submitted to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in compliance with a constitutional amendment passed by voters last August.

He noted that the state’s $35 billion budget approved by lawmakers last week didn’t provide the funding he had requested for an expansion of Medicaid, which is known in Missouri as MO HealthNet.

“Without a revenue source or funding authority from the General Assembly, we are unable to proceed with the expansion at this time and must withdraw our State Plan Amendments to ensure Missouri’s existing MO HealthNet program remains solvent,” said Parson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report