Medicaid expansion would be an investment in Missouri’s health and a growing economy

On Aug. 4, Missouri voters will have the chance to make a lucrative investment in our state’s health and our economy. And while the state legislature has failed to expand Medicaid coverage for the past decade, Missouri voters will now finally get to have their say.

There’s a good reason that 37 other states have already expanded Medicaid, with Oklahoma voters approving it just last month. Medicaid expansion makes good financial and business sense.

It would all start with the return of more than $1 billion that Missourians send to Washington, D.C., every year back to the state — money that now goes to fund Medicaid expansion in other states. While states have to contribute 10% of the expansion costs, Missouri already spends existing resources for health care services at a much lower federal matching rate.

Medicaid expansion would increase Missourians’ access to affordable health care, and that would have a positive effect on the state’s bottom line. Ultimately, medical coverage would be available to at least 230,000 Missourians who earn between $10,000 and $18,000 per year. Research has proven what many of these people already know from personal experience: Having health coverage means less medical debt, fewer bankruptcies and evictions, and more income that can be spent on other services in our economy.

The argument that Medicaid expansion is something we cannot afford, either before the COVID-19 pandemic or after, doesn’t add up. Several research studies have been commissioned by states to verify Medicaid expansion has been a smart investment. The newest study, commissioned by the Missouri Foundation for Health and conducted by Regional Economic Models, Inc., projects that Medicaid expansion in our state would result in a $2.5 billion annual increase in economic output, a $1.6 billion yearly increase in gross domestic product and a $1.1 billion annual increase in personal income.

The REMI study found Medicaid expansion would create more than 16,000 new jobs statewide annually during the program’s first five years. More than 2,100 of those new jobs would be in the six-county Kansas City region. Medicaid expansion would also help rural areas: Nearly two-thirds of the new jobs would be created outside the St. Louis and Kansas City regions.

In February, I represented the Civic Council of Kansas City and joined leaders of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Health Forward Foundation and the United Way of Greater Kansas City at a Union Station news conference to publicly pledge our support to the ballot initiative now known as Amendment 2.The momentum has resulted in nearly 350,000 Missourians signing the petition to put Medicaid expansion on the 2020 ballot.

The ranks of “Yes on 2” supporters has also grown to include such groups as AARP, the Missouri Catholic Conference, national patient advocacy groups and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which cited the REMI study and called Amendment 2 a “pro-jobs measure that will help fuel economic growth across the state.”

Nearly 300 strong, the coalition also includes the AFL-CIO and its 55 affiliated trade unions — a confluence of business and organized labor voices in this state that speaks to Medicaid expansion’s broad support.

We Missourians have a second chance to correct a missed opportunity for our state that will result in greater quality of life, public health and economic opportunity with a yes vote on Amendment 2.

This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Medicaid expansion would be an investment in Missouri’s health and a growing economy."