Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Missouri Medicaid expansion ballot measure
A pair of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a ballot measure expanding Medicaid eligibility in Missouri were dismissed Tuesday by a Cole County judge.
Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green ruled that the question will remain on the August ballot for voters to decide.
In dismissing the lawsuit, Green found no merit in arguments by two conservative nonprofits — Americans for Prosperity and United for Missouri — that the measure unconstitutionally required the state to spend money without providing a revenue stream to pay for it.
“The initiative does not purport to appropriate existing funds nor does it implicate the governor’s role in the appropriation process,” Green wrote.
Missouri’s Medicaid program does not cover most adults without children. Only the disabled, children and parents with incomes under 22 percent of the federal poverty line — less than $5,800 a year for a family of four — are eligible.
Proponents of expanded Medicaid coverage in Missouri gathered nearly 350,000 signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot raising the level for coverage to 138 percent of the federal poverty line — about $36,000 for a family of four.
If voters approve the proposal in August, it is estimated that an additional 200,000 Missourians will be eligible for health care benefits.
The federal government would pick up 90 percent of the cost of expanded coverage. Critics of expansion say lawmakers will be forced to come up with Missouri’s 10 percent share, a figure that could be several hundred million dollars.
AJ. Bockelman, campaign manager for the pro-expansion PAC Healthcare for Missouri, released a statement praising Green’s decision to dismiss the “frivolous lawsuits.”
The proposed constitutional amendment expanding Medicaid, Bockelman said, “will bring $1 billion of our own tax dollars back from Washington annually to help keep Missouri’s rural hospitals open and provide crucial care to our local communities.”
