© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Kansas City Today

Missouri may kick a lot of people off Medicaid soon

By Brian Ellison,
Paris Rex Norvell, Byron J. Love
Published February 21, 2023 at 4:00 AM CST
Ways To Subscribe

Enrollment in Medicaid hit a record high in Missouri in part because states weren’t allowed to kick people off during the coronavirus pandemic — but that changes soon, threatening health insurance for hundreds of thousands of residents. Plus: Across the Midwest, statewide weather monitors that provide critical weather data are threatened by a lack of stable funding.

A record 1.4 million people are enrolled in Missouri’s Medicaid program — the government-funded health insurance for disabled and low-income people and families. That’s in part because the state has been barred from kicking anyone out of the program during the coronavirus pandemic. But that provision ends this spring. St. Louis Public Radio’s Sarah Fentem reports some are worried that as the state starts to review patients, people who need coverage will lose their insurance.

Across the Midwest and Great Plains, mesonets — a funny word for statewide weather monitoring networks — record data for farmers, researchers and emergency responders. But as Harvest Public Media’s Elizabeth Rembert reports, funding for many state mesonets is on shaky ground.

Contact the show at news@kcur.org. Follow KCUR on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate

Tags
Kansas City Today MedicaidCoronavirusweatherMissouri governmenthealth insuranceClimate Change
Brian Ellison
As a host and contributor at KCUR, I seek to create a more informed citizenry and richer community. I want to enlighten and inspire our audience by delivering the information they need with accuracy and urgency, clarifying what’s complicated and teasing out the complexities of what seems simple. I work to craft conversations that reveal realities in our midst and model civil discourse in a divided world. Follow me on Twitter @ptsbrian or email me at brian@kcur.org.
See stories by Brian Ellison
Paris Rex Norvell
Paris Norvell is a freelance podcast producer for KCUR Studios,
See stories by Paris Rex Norvell
Byron J. Love
As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.
See stories by Byron J. Love
Support paywall-free journalism
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.
Donate Now