Governor Nixon and legislative Republicans appear to be on a collision course on an important healthcare issue in the legislative session that starts tomorrow. It’s one of several issues but it might be the biggest one from the financial standpoint.
Republicans outnumber Democrats in both houses of the legislature at least two to one, meaning a Nixon veto could be overridden on a party-line vote if Republicans can hold their caucus together. But the majority party is saying some things might never get to that point because the legislature is not going to pass them in the first place.
Nixon wants lawmakers to expand the Medicaid program. He says the federal government will pay all of the costs for the first three years and the most the state would pay after that would be ten percent.
AUDIO: Nixon :08
But senate leader Tom Dempsey of St. Peters thinks the proposal is a dead duck before the session even starts.
AUDIO: Dempsey :30
Nixon says he’ll work on legislators to change their opinions. Republican leaders say that’s unlikely. Nixon has four and-a-half months to make them change.
