People and groups who work with Medicaid clients are urging Missouri lawmakers to expand coverage in next year’s state budget.
Cynthia Keele from the Missouri chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness told a State House budget subcommittee that expanding Medicaid would help families dealing with medical debt.
“Missouri medical debt is responsible for about 40 percent of the bankruptcies in Missouri, and I know that because I’m a banker’s wife and those bankruptcies and medical debt kill jobs,” said Keele.
Governor Jay Nixon announced last week his intention to expand Medicaid coverage to an additional 300-thousand Missourians in his proposed state budget.
GOP leaders, including Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, say they will not allow that to happen.
