• Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Legislature
    • Politics / Govt
  • Sports
    • The Bill Pollock Show
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Business / Haahr and Quade have different perspectives on Missouri Medicaid expansion

Haahr and Quade have different perspectives on Missouri Medicaid expansion

September 26, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House Speaker and House Democrats view the issue of Medicaid expansion differently.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, briefs Capitol reporters on September 11, 2019 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, says Medicaid expansion would hurt education, by taking dollars out of the classroom.

“To do Medicaid expansion in Missouri would require a ten percent match for the 90 percent draw down,” Haahr tells Capitol reporters. “That would blow a sizable hole in our general revenue budget.”

An initiative petition effort for Medicaid expansion is being criticized by Speaker Haahr, primarily because of that ten percent match.

“One of the things that we’ve done since I’ve been in the Legislature (since 2013) is we’ve fully funded the k-12 (education foundation) formula, we’ve made a big attempt to try to bring our higher education funding up,” says Haahr. “Those two areas would have an incredible hit if we were to have to cut several hundred million dollars out of the budget and fund that.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet he shares the Speaker’s position, because of the impact on the state budget.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, briefs the Capitol Press Corps on September 11, 2019 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Meantime, the Democratic leader in the Missouri House supports Medicaid expansion. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, tells Capitol reporters about 100,000 Missouri children have lost their Medicaid health care coverage.

“This is something that we (lawmakers) should be talking about. We have Missourians all over the state, not just rural Missouri, urban Missouri, who are losing access to health care,” Quade says. “And that is a true emergency and not tax breaks.”

Leader Quade has called for a formal House committee investigation of the Medicaid enrollment decline. The state Department of Social Services (DSS) has provided statistics to Missourinet, which show the number of Missourians on Medicaid has dropped from about 953,000 in August 2018 to about 850,000 now.

State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, predicts state revenue will increase, if Medicaid expansion happens. Lavender is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Health, Mental Health and Social Services.

During the recent veto session, Lavender spoke on the House floor in Jefferson City, noting that eight rural Missouri hospitals have closed.

“I believe our number is up to eight rural hospitals that we’ve lost in our state. So yes, this would be one of the ways that we would be able to at least provide some type of health care,” Lavender said that day. She was referring to a health care bill from State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport.

Missouri’s Medicaid budget is now about one-third of the state’s $29 billion operating budget.

Republicans currently control the Missouri House 113-43.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Business, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, Missouri House, Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, Missouri Medicaid expansion, State Rep. Chuck Basye, State Rep. Deb Lavender

Subscribe to our daily newsletter


Tweets by Missourinet

Sports

Bad second period dooms Blues

The Blues … [Read More...]

Cards offense falters in loss to Nationals

The … [Read More...]

Royals taker series finale with Angels

Salvador … [Read More...]

Ex-Chiefs coach charged with felony DWI

Former … [Read More...]

Mizzou gets opportunity of a lifetime in 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Out of … [Read More...]

More Sports

Tweets by missourisports

Archives

Opinion/Editorials

TwitterFacebook

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC