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Missourinet

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You are here: Home / Archives for Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Missouri Medicaid expansion implementation discussion to begin after State of State address

January 24, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House Budget Committee is expected to hold its first meeting of 2021 this week in Jefferson City.

Missouri House Budget Committee Chair Cody Smith, R-Carthage, speaks at the Statehouse in Jefferson City on November 9, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, has released a revised House schedule. A technical session has been added on Friday, which will allow the Budget Committee to meet that day.

Missouri’s current operating budget is about $38 billion, which includes two supplemental budgets with federal money.

Governor Mike Parson (R) will deliver his State of the State Address on Wednesday afternoon at 3 in Jefferson City, before a joint session of the Legislature. The governor will outline his 2021 legislative priorities at that time, and will also unveil his proposed budget blueprint.

The implementation of Medicaid expansion is expected to be a key issue this session.

“We will wait until after the state of the state (speech) to discuss new budget items like medex (Medicaid expansion). We need to see what the department (state Department of Social Services) proposes and spend a little time unpacking it,” House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet.

Medicaid is formally called MO HealthNet. It’s a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents with limited incomes.

About 53 percent of Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion in August. Amendment Two expands Medicaid for residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with an income level at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Medicaid expansion supporters say the measure will provide healthcare to Missourians who earn less than $18,000 annually.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, speaks on the Missouri House floor on January 6, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Medicaid expansion implementation is a top 2021 priority for House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and other House Democrats. She notes Medicaid expansion will extend health care coverage to more than 200,000 Missourians.

“As we head into our second year of the (COVID) pandemic, we must take the lessons learned so far about what works and what doesn’t and translate it into action,” Leader Quade said on January 6, opening day for the Legislature. “We must work together to ensure Missourians can get vaccinated as quickly as possible. And the need to expand health care access as commanded by voters has never been more critical.”

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and many labor unions endorsed Amendment Two. The Chamber frequently quoted a study from the Missouri Foundation for Health, which says Medicaid expansion will create more than 16,000 new jobs annually during its first five years. The Chamber says many of those jobs will be in rural Missouri.

However, Medicaid expansion failed in 105 of the state’s 114 counties. All 105 counties that voted against it are in rural Missouri, which is a GOP stronghold.

House Budget Committee Chairman Smith warned before the August election that Amendment Two was projected to cost $200 million in state general revenue, and $1.8 billion in federal funding each year.

While GOP Governor Parson campaigned against Medicaid expansion, he has told Capitol reporters several times that Medicaid expansion will be implemented because that was the will of the voters.

Copyright © 2021 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Health / Medicine, History, Legislature, News Tagged With: Amendment Two, Carthage, COVID pandemic, Medicaid expansion implementation, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Department of Social Services, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, Missouri House Majority Leader Dean Plocher, Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, MO HealthNet, rural Missouri, Springfield, State of the State Address

Outgoing Missouri State Rep. Deb Lavender reflects on her six years in Jefferson City (AUDIO)

December 9, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A veteran Democrat on the Missouri House Budget Committee will be leaving Jefferson City at the end of the month, after losing a Senate race to State Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester.

State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 15, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, was elected to the House in 2014 and served three terms. She’s most proud that Missourians approved Medicaid expansion in August.

“I guess what I can say I’m proud about is my individual district (the 90th in St. Louis County) passed that by 70 percent,” Lavender says. “So I think my six years of educating my district why Medicaid expansion is important, I think that’s the first thing for the state of Missouri that I think is the best thing that’s happened in a long time.”

Medicaid is a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents with limited incomes. 53 percent of Missouri voters approved Amendment Two, which will provide healthcare to Missourians who earn less than $18,000 annually.

Lavender is hopeful that some of the rural hospitals that have closed in recent years will re-open, now that Missouri voters have approved Medicaid expansion. She says the issue is important statewide.

“We’ve closed ten hospitals over the last decade and especially in our day of the COVID virus right now, people are traveling to St. Louis for their medical care,” says Lavender.

Amendment Two expands Medicaid for residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with an income level at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

The implementation of Medicaid expansion will take place in 2021. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, has said it’s projected to cost $200 million in state general revenue and $1.8 billion in federal funding each year.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Lavender and other supporters say Medicaid expansion will create more than 16,000 new jobs annually during its first five years, while increasing personal income by $1.1 billion annually.

Another issue Representative Lavender has tried to raise awareness about is fund balances. She is the ranking Democrat on the Missouri House Appropriations Subcommittee on health and social services.

Lavender says Missouri currently has more than 450 individual bank accounts, with $6.8 billion in the bank. She’s disappointed that more hasn’t been done in Jefferson City with the fund balances.

“What I have figured out is that there’s no one person accountable for fund balances,” Lavender says. “But in some cases, I think it’s a place where we have learned to hide money.”

Lavender questions whether all of that money is needed. She says if it’s not needed, it should be spent appropriately. She also supports decreasing some professional license fees.

Lavender says her future is still to be determined. She notes she has always practiced as a physical therapist during her time in Legislature, and has kept her physical therapy practice during the last 18 months of campaigning.

She’s also still interested in state government and in the fund balances. She emphasizes that she has enjoyed serving on the House Budget Committee, and in the Legislature.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, which was recorded on December 7, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bh-lavenderinterview.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: Amendment Two, Carthage, COVID, fund balances, Kirkwood, Manchester, Medicaid expansion, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, professional license fees, rural Missouri hospital closings, State Rep. Deb Lavender, State Sen. Andrew Koenig

Proposed COVID-19 liability protections for Missouri businesses will wait until next year

December 2, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson has asked the Legislature to wait until next session to take up a bill that aims to protect Missouri businesses and other organizations from COVID-19 liability lawsuits. Less than one month ago, Parson expanded his special session call to urge lawmakers to pass virus-related protections for businesses. Parson’s office did not give a reason for putting off work on the proposal.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been pushing for passage of the measure.

Gov. Mike Parson

News of the request hit as a Missouri Senate committee held a hearing Tuesday about a measure to address such legal claims. During the hearing, Mark Moreland with the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys says the legislation is not necessary because there have been no such lawsuits filed yet in Missouri.

“And why? Because this is a communicable disease,” he says. “As good a lawyer as I think I may be, I don’t think I can prove that you got your COVID-19 at the restaurant and you did so because the restaurant owner somehow screwed up. This bill isn’t an attempt to deal with an issue in Missouri. It’s an attempt to put the camel – not the camel’s nose – but the camel underneath the tent when it comes to products liability and premises liability.”

Sen. Bill White, R-Joplin, fired back.

“We’re talking a five-year statute of limitations. The fact that we have an ongoing pandemic and we’ve had zero cases in the first nine months does not mean you will not have multitudes as we get a vaccine, things chill out a bit, people have longer-term exposure,” says White.

Dana Frese testified on behalf of the Missouri Hospital Association in support of the plan.

“Our healthcare providers have been at war with this virus during the pandemic and they deserve our support. They are exhausted,” he says. “Also, when COVID-19 patients stress the capacity of smaller, rural hospitals, it makes it harder for those healthcare providers to care for patients with a heart attack, a stroke, an automobile accident or other serious medical conditions. Missouri hospitals and physicians can ill afford during the pandemic to spend their precious time and limited resources defending claims alleging that someone contracted COVID-19 in a healthcare setting, despite the heroic efforts of our healthcare providers since March. Our Missouri healthcare providers must remain focused on providing healthcare to our citizens during this pandemic and not be subjected to litigation over COVID-19 exposure. The virus is pervasive in Missouri and is not under control.”

Despite the change of plans, the panel spent about two hours discussing the legislation.

Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, is the sponsor of the proposal, Senate Bill 1.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: COVID-19, Dana Frese, governor mike parson, Mark Moreland, Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Hospital Association, Missouri legislature, Senator Bill White

Governor Parson adds COVID liability to Missouri’s special session call; Quade says it will worsen crisis

November 12, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor expanded his special session call on Thursday to include COVID-19 liability, relating to his declared state of emergency for health care providers, manufacturers, businesses, churches, schools and others.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson announces he’s expanding his special session call to include COVID liability, during a November 12, 2020 press conference in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

The issue is a top priority for Missouri’s largest business organization and for GOP legislative leaders, but some labor unions and the House Democratic leader see it differently.

Governor Mike Parson (R) made his announcement at a Statehouse press conference in Jefferson City.

“None of these groups (health care providers, businesses, churches, schools) should be penalized for their efforts to respond to a declared state of emergency,” Parson tells Capitol reporters. “They must be able to continue operating and serving the public without risk of unnecessary and senseless claims.”

The governor is calling on the Legislature to approve a bill with three main components.

“Liability protection for health care workers who provide care as necessitated by a declared state of emergency,” says Parson. “Products liability protection for any person who designs, manufactures, labels, sells, distributes or donates products in direct response to a declared state of emergency.”

The third component is premises liability protection for exposure claims, relating to a declared state of emergency.

Governor Parson also wants lawmakers to approve an emergency clause.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been urging the governor to expand the special session, saying six of Missouri’s eight bordering states have approved similar legislation. Chamber President Dan Mehan tells Missourinet that more than 800 Missouri employers, mostly small businesses, signed a letter requesting a special session. That includes a skate park and a pizzeria.

Mehan describes COVID-19 liability protection as an important step towards re-opening the economy.

You can read the governor’s special session call here. House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, told Missourinet this week he expects the House to be in session in December to work on COVID liability.

The top Democratic in the Missouri House is blasting the governor’s announcement, saying it encourages reckless behavior.

“Over and over, Governor Parson has stressed the need for personal responsibility in fighting COVID-19. But for businesses that negligently put their employees and customers at risk, he doesn’t want them to have to take any responsibility at all,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, says, in a written statement. “While providing protections for businesses that follow the rules and take the necessary steps to keep people safe might be warranted, a blanket exemption that also shields bad actors from legal liability will encourage reckless behavior and make a crisis that already has spun out of control far worse.”

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is also critical. SEIU Healthcare Missouri Kansas vice president Lenny Jones says the governor’s proposal would grant immunity to operators and owners of nursing homes and medical centers, during the COVID pandemic.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Crime / Courts, Education, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: churches, COVID-19 liability, emergency clause, health care providers, manufacturers, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Missouri House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade, schools, Service Employees International Union, Springfield

Haahr anticipates addition of COVID liability to Missouri’s special session (AUDIO)

November 11, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s House Speaker anticipates that the governor will expand his special session call to include COVID-19 liability.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, presides over the House on November 10, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, made his comments to Missourinet, during a Tuesday afternoon interview in his Capitol office in Jefferson City. He expects the Missouri House to be in session in December to work on COVID liability.

“We’ve been in long talks with the (Capitol’s) second floor (the governor’s office) on that for several weeks now and those talks have gotten pretty serious, and I think we’re at a place where we’re comfortable moving forward,” Speaker Haahr says.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is also urging the governor to include COVID liability in his special session call, saying January is too long to wait to shield businesses, schools and hospitals that follow public health guidelines from COVID suits.

Chamber President Dan Mehan describes COVID-19 liability protection as an important step towards re-opening the economy.

“There’s a lot of employers out there that are a little bit concerned about opening for fear of being sued on frivolous grounds for COVID, by customers, by employees, that sort of thing,” says Mehan.

Mehan says more than 800 Missouri employers, mostly small businesses, have signed a letter requesting it. He says that includes a skate park and a pizzeria.

Mehan also says many of Missouri’s neighboring states have passed similar legislation.

“We’ve seen six of the eight contiguous states, the border states, adopt something in this light. Most recently Iowa signed it into law,” Mehan says.

As for Governor Parson, he supports the COVID-19 liability proposal and has publicly stated at several Capitol press conferences that he would include it during the special session, if there’s a path for it to pass.

House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, who will be Speaker in January, has also written a letter to the governor, asking him to expand the special session call.

“Right now there are numerous small businesses afraid to open because of the threat of litigation tied to COVID-19,” Leader Vescovo writes. “Additionally, many of our hospitals and health care professionals are asking us to help them to better be able to do their jobs by passing commonsense COVID-19 liability protections.”

Speaker Haahr tells Missourinet that many businesses across the state have reached out, adding that lawmakers are working to keep the language tight.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Dan Mehan, which was recorded on November 6, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bh-mehaninterviewNovember2020.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Crime / Courts, Education, Entertainment, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: Arnold, businesses, COVID-19 liability, hospitals, Iowa, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri House Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, pizzeria, schools, skate park, Springfield

Missouri gets $6 million in federal aid to create thousands of tech apprenticeships

November 10, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation is deploying $6 million in federal funding to create 5,300 new tech industry apprenticeships. During a virtual event Monday, President Dan Mehan calls the investment a game changer.

Missouri gets $6 million in federal aid to create thousands of tech apprenticeships

“There is an apprenticeship revolution going on in Missouri,” he says. “Over the last two years, our state ranks second in the number of completed apprenticeships – second only behind California.”

More than 10,000 Missourians have gone through an apprenticeship program that gives them real-world and traditional learning through a paid work experience. The effort is meant to give participants a feel for whether they would like to make a living in the profession.

According to the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, about 94% of apprentices are retained by their employers after they complete their apprenticeships and the average annual salary is not too shabby – about $70,000. The Chamber says the pay leads to a $300,000 lifetime earning advantage over non-apprentices.

Mehan says the state is “poised for strong growth” in apprenticeships thanks to a number of developments this year.

Mehan says House Bill 2046, passed this year by the Missouri Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, will boost the state’s apprenticeship efforts. The plan, sponsored by Rep. Derek Grier, R-Chesterfield, gives students industry credentials after they finish their program.

“This progress could not have come at a better time,” says Mehan. “We all know our state faces many challenges as we continue to confront COVID-19 and seek to grow our economy out of it. One of our biggest challenges will be training workers who find themselves unemployed or underemployed due to the pandemic. Apprenticeships will be a very important tool as we work to help get these workers back on the job and likewise ensure that Missouri employers have the talent they need to grow and power our economy.”

Another development Mehan points to is Missouri Apprentice Connect – the first in the nation apprenticeship matching program. The free service can be found by going to MoApprenticeConnect.com

Dr. Mardy Leathers, director of the Missouri Office of Workforce Development, says there is a wide variety of businesses contributing to the state’s apprenticeship success.

“In Missouri, it would be easy if I could rattle off the names of a couple employers. But the reality is, there are 493 employers who have apprenticeship programs in the state. So, we have a lot of employers who engage,” says Leathers. “It’s actually a great thing that I can’t rattle those names off because we have so many.”

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, helped to secure the federal grant. Blunt chairs a subcommittee that funds U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and others.

“Nobody has taken better advantage of this than Missouri has,” says Blunt. “We’ve got a new Office of Apprenticeships and Work-Based Learning that has been set up in the Department of Higher Education. I think what these apprenticeship programs do and what our state, what you’ve done and what Governor Parson has done and others have done, is realize we have to look at the workplace a little differently.”

Cerner Corporation – a global healthcare technology company in Kansas City – was the lead partner in bringing the federal grant to Missouri.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Education, Legislature, News, Science / Technology Tagged With: Cerner Corporation, Dan Mehan, Dr. Mardy Leathers, governor mike parson, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri legislature, Missouri Office of Workforce Development, Rep. Derek Grier, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt

(AUDIO) Missouri event to showcase what modern day manufacturing is all about

October 1, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Manufacturers statewide will be showcasing careers in their industry to about 8,200 Missouri students tomorrow. Brian Crouse with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry says due to COVID-19, the business group is hosting its annual Manufacturing Day event – this time on Zoom and Facebook. The virtual event will feature video tours inside factories to show students how products are made and learn about high-tech, good-paying jobs.

Missouri event to showcase what modern day manufacturing is all about

Crouse says the industry contributes about $39 billion to Missouri’s gross domestic product – a measure of economic growth.

“I think manufacturing is one of the best industries and one of the hidden gems that most young people don’t think about today,” says Crouse. “Our automotive supply chain is very strong here. Our aerospace industry is also strong. Traditionally, we don’t think of bio life sciences as a manufacturing production area per se, but it is.”

This is the fifth year of the event and Crouse says it helps to change the hearts and minds of what manufacturing is like these days.

“And really de-mystifying what the stigma of manufacturing is in a lot of people’s heads, which it’s dark, dirty and dangerous. And that’s not the case about modern manufacturing,” he says. “It’s high tech. It’s clean and it’s fast-paced and it has great career trajectory for people to go into it.”

Crouse says key hiring barriers for manufacturers include skilled workers, filling entry-level jobs and short-term training for future employees.

The average annual wage for a Missouri manufacturing worker is about $59,700 with most including healthcare benefits and, in some cases, tuition reimbursement.

He says the pandemic has shifted the focus of Missouri’s manufacturing sector.

“We’re seeing an intense effort to reshore our manufacturing and our supply chains. And Missouri, being right in the middle of the U.S., has probably one of the best logistics positions in the country. And so, as we think about growing our economic abilities, manufacturing in any sector really can find a great home here,” says Crouse.

The program, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., will feature a different manufacturer every 20 minutes. Students will get the opportunity to interact with manufacturing leaders and ask questions. Featured manufacturers include Boeing, Emerson, Kawasaki, Koller Craft, Pfizer, Polytainers, Toyota, and many more. The event will be available for playback on the Chamber’s Facebook page.

Listen to the full interview:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ChamberManufacturing.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, News Tagged With: Brian Crouse, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Missouri unveils new statewide apprenticeship matching service (AUDIO)

September 7, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri officials have announced the start of a new statewide apprenticeship matching service, that helps employers with registered apprenticeship programs find aspiring apprentices.

Apprentices involved in the Work Able Missouri Registered Apprenticeship pilot program train at southwest Missouri’s Dogwood Canyon Nature Park in Lampe (photo courtesy of Becky Dunn from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development)

The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced the service’s launch. Missouri’s workforce development director, Dr. Mardy Leathers, says this is key for businesses and workers.

“We finished the year last year second in the nation only behind California for new apprenticeships. That means new people starting apprenticeship programs and people completing those programs,” Leathers says.

Dr. Leathers says the site makes it easier for Missourians to take advantage of career opportunities that apprenticeships provide.

Officials say the launch of the new service will enhance Missouri’s leadership role in using apprenticeships to help train the state’s workforce.

“So while we continue to have over 12,000 registered apprentices in our skilled trades, we’re now adding three and four-thousand apprentices a year in areas like IT and education and advanced manufacturing,” says Dr. Leathers.

Leathers says health care is another key area for apprentices.

He also notes the service is helping both business and labor. It helps businesses find quality job candidates and helps workers find good-paying jobs. He also says that for apprentices who finish their program, 83 percent of them are still employed with the company that sponsored their apprenticeship, nine months after completion.

Dr. Leathers says apprenticeships are an efficient way to build a skilled workforce.

“For every dollar a business puts into training an apprentice, the return of productivity back that business is over $1.40,” Leathers says.

Governor Mike Parson signed an executive order in late 2019, creating an Office of Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning, within the state Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development.

“Through this office, we will continue working to increase apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities,” Governor Parson said at the November 2019 Columbia event. “We have some of the hardest-working, talented individuals in the nation right here in the state of Missouri.”

The governor says apprenticeships play a critical role in developing a workforce that’s prepared to meet future demands.

Click here to learn more about the new statewide apprenticeship matching service.

Dr. Leathers also says the Missouri Chamber Foundation has been awarded a $6 million federal grant, to create 5,300 tech industry apprenticeships.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full five-minute interview with Missouri workforce development director Dr. Mardy Leathers, which was recorded on September 4, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/bh-leathersinterviewSeptember.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Education, Health / Medicine, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: business, labor, Missouri Chamber Foundation, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Missouri workforce development director Dr. Mardy Leathers, Office of Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning, skilled trades, statewide apprenticeship matching service

Brattin clinches Republican nomination for Missouri Senate District 31 race

August 4, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Former Representative Rick Brattin (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel; Missouri House Communications)

Former State Representative Rick Brattin of Harrisonville has taken 49% of the vote compared to State Representative Jack Bondon’s 44% in the race for the Missouri Senate District 31 seat. Brattin and Bondon, both Republicans, have been campaigning to replace outgoing GOP Senator Ed Emery of Lamar.

Term limits prevent Emery from running for re-election for the overwhelmingly Republican district. The district extends from western Missouri down to southwest Missouri.

Bondon was backed by two powerful state organizations – the Missouri Farm Bureau and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Brattin, the current Cass County Auditor, faces Democrat Raymond Kinney of Raymore in November. He served eight years in the Missouri House, from 2011 to 2018.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Elections, Legislature, News Tagged With: Ed Emery, Jack Bondon, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri House, Missouri legislature, Missouri Senate, Raymond Kinney, Rick Brattin

Missouri primary election spotlight: Can the state afford to expand Medicaid?

August 3, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A Medicaid expansion measure is one of the hot items at the ballot box in Tuesday’s primary election. Missouri voters will be asked whether to expand Medicaid to another 230,000 low-income adults. Currently, about 950,000 Missourians get government-funded healthcare. Under Amendment 2, Missouri adults earning up to $18,000 annually could qualify.

Missouri primary election spotlight: Can the state afford to expand Medicaid?

The clash between those for and against the plan has been largely about the way Medicaid expansion would affect the state’s bank account and philosophical contrasts. The messaging is very different depending on who you talk to.

During a statewide anti-expansion tour, State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says the plan would cost the state another $200 million annually and would mean less money for other priorities.

“We fund prisons and if we want to close prisons and let violent criminals out of jail – that’s one option,” he says. “If we want to turn into Illinois and not fund our pension obligations – that’s another option and turn into a state with a junk credit rating. When you get down to it, one of the few discretionary items that we can decide how much money we’re going to spend without substantial consequences to the state is on education.”

Fitzpatrick, a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, says Missouri’s Medicaid obligations already make up about 40% of the state’s annual operating budget and it continues to grow each year.

“The state of Missouri already has a very generous Medicaid opportunities for families with children,” he says. “If you have a family and you have children and you are making less than 300% of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is about $76,000, you can get your kids on Medicaid in the state of Missouri. If you are a pregnant woman and you need prenatal care and you don’t have access to health insurance and you are making less than 300% of the federal poverty level, you can get on Medicaid in the state of Missouri. The people that we are talking about, by and large expanding Medicaid to, are people who are working age, who are physically able to work and in many cases are choosing not to for whatever reason.”

State Representative Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, insists the state would save money. Kendrick is the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

“Most states actually see a cost savings in the first year to two years and then that cost savings continues to grow,” Kendrick tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly. “As more people come on, they tend to come on to that expanded role at a 90/10 (federal) match rather than a 60/40 (federal) match as you typically see in states that haven’t expanded. So, it’ll end up being cost savings for the state and provide greater access to healthcare and do a lot to shore up our hospitals and clinics around the state at a difficult time in the middle of a pandemic.”

A study by Washington University in St. Louis says Missouri would save about $39 million if the state expanded Medicaid. The analysis, done by the school’s Center for Health Economics and Policy, says the expansion would cost the state an estimated $118 million.

Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, was also among a line of Republican legislators at the anti-expansion tour in Jefferson City.

“I would point out that the average Medicaid expansion state has seen cost overruns of 154%,” he says.

Onder, a practicing physician, says about 60% of the Medicaid expansion population already has private health insurance. If the ballot measure passes, he says they will be kicked off their insurance.

Gov. Mike Parson opposes the ballot measure and has the same financial stance as his Republican allies. During a press conference in May, Parson said the state budget is tough enough to handle with the coronavirus outbreak, let alone if Medicaid is expanded.

“There’s absolutely not going to be any extra money whatsoever,” says Parson. “Look, I don’t think it’s a time to be expanding anything in the state of Missouri right now. I’m telling you, we are going to have challenges going in to 2021 for sure when it comes to just meeting the budget with what we currently have.”

The Republican-leaning Missouri Chamber of Commerce says it backs the proposal that it says would lead to another 16,000 jobs per year for five years. Missourinet’s attempts to get the Chamber’s response about its support were not answered but in an initial statement expressing its position, President Dan Mehan called Amendment 2 a “pro-jobs measure” that will help fuel economic growth throughout our state.

“While this data makes a clear case for passing Amendment 2, the benefits of Medicaid expansion are even more significant during this time of economic hardship,” says Mehan.

Missouri Hospital Association spokesperson Dave Dillon tells Missourinet the healthcare group supports the expansion effort.

“It’s an important tool in getting people who need care some care and getting them comfortable with the idea of getting it when they need it. And that is to say that other parts of the Affordable Care Act were about keeping people healthy. You get paid – not necessarily for doing a procedure over and over again – but for the outcome of that procedure. To improve people’s health, requires you to put them in a system that you can help maintain their health. Medicaid can be that tool.”

Dillon agrees with the argument that Medicaid expansion is the vehicle for people who were never going to be able to afford to buy their own health insurance.

“But for us, if we’re going to set up a system of penalties for us not being able to keep individuals healthy – and by the way at the same time cost the healthcare system a lot more to treat in the wrong place at the wrong time – then we really need this as a tool in our tool belt to try to get those people to where if they need care for a chronic condition, if they are not even managing and don’t realize that they have diabetes, heart disease or the like, when they show up and need a stint or something really expensive, that’s an unnecessary cost. That’s a cost that we all bear because if that individual can’t pay for it, it’s going to be cost-shifted to people who can.”

He goes on to say the measure would save the entire healthcare system some money.

“There’s a hidden healthcare tax that everybody that’s got a commercial health insurance plan pays,” says Dillon. “That is attributable, in part, to the fact that we have a large number of uninsured and when they need care, they get it. They just don’t get it in an efficient place. They usually get it in the Emergency Department and then we have to write it off.”

Fitzpatrick, from southwest Missouri’s Shell Knob, says Medicaid expansion is billed as the “silver bullet” for struggling hospitals.

“I frankly don’t think that it is. I mean, it might help a little bit but frankly there are hospital systems out there that have problems that exceed what Medicaid expansion itself can solve.”

If Amendment 2 passes, Missouri would become the 38th state to expand government-funded healthcare coverage.

Polls are open Tuesday statewide from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: Dan Mehan, Dave Dillon, governor mike parson, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Hospital Association, Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, Representative Kip Kendrick, Senator Bob Onder, Washington University

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