https://mailchi.mp/b5daf4456328/the-weekly-gist-july-23-2021?e=d1e747d2d8

On Thursday, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously reversed a lower court ruling that held that the state’s $1.9B Medicaid expansion, approved by voters in a 2020 ballot initiative, was unconstitutional.

The ruling clears the way for the state’s Department of Social Services to begin implementation of the expansion, which is expected to cover 275,000 low-income Missouri residents. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the federal government will pay 90 percent of the cost to cover the newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries, along with an additional bump in federal funding for Missouri’s Medicaid program, thanks to a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act passed earlier this year. 

Missouri voters approved the expansion by a 53-47 margin last year, but the ballot initiative was held to be unconstitutional because it did not include a source of funding for the portion of coverage costs to be paid for by the state (and the state legislature refused to allocate money for the expansion, despite currently running a surplus). Five other states have turned to ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid under the ACA, seeking to work around state legislatures that have resisted the change. In all, a dozen states, mostly in the Southeast, have  chosen not to expand their Medicaid programs, even despite the additional incentives Congress voted into law this year. 

Democrats on Capitol Hill are considering legislative alternatives to provide new coverage to low-income residents in those states, as part of the $3.5T reconciliation package currently being negotiated. Numerous studies have shown the positive impact of expanding Medicaid on health and financial well-being, but state-level politics have proven to be a challenge, especially in deep-red states. Meanwhile, tax dollars continue to flow from those states to fund Medicaid expansion elsewhere—now, including Missouri.