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Alternate Medicaid Proposal Dead For 2013 Mo. Regular Session

UPI/Bill Greenblatt

An alternate Medicaid expansion bill that contained some reforms sought byMissouri HouseRepublicans is all but dead this year.

House Bill 700 would have expanded Medicaid to 180,000 Missourians, removed 44,000 children from the Medicaid rolls, allowed private insurers to compete to cover Medicaid recipients, and offered cash bonuses to motivate recipients to stay healthy.  The sponsor, State Representative Jay Barnes(R, Jefferson City), offered his bill as an amendmentto one of his other bills, but later withdrew it.

"Unfortunately, the Missouri State Senatehas indicated it does not have the stomach to pick up a Medicaid transformation bill this year," Barnes said.  "We cannot ignore this – if conservatives do nothing, if the Missouri General Assembly does nothing, we cede control of our entire health care system to the Obama Administration."

Barnes' bill would have also relied on the Obama Administration to exempt Missouri from raising Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, a move Democrats have said won't happen.

Meanwhile, the top Democrat in the Missouri House, Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel(D, St. Louis), called the 2013 legislative session a failure in a statement released shortly after Barnes withdrew his amendment:

"House Republicans today abandoned all efforts to expand Medicaid eligibility under the federal Affordable Care Act. In doing so, House Republicans abandoned struggling rural hospitals; they abandoned 24,000 new jobs; and they abandoned billions of federal dollars paid by Missouri taxpayers that should have been brought back to Missouri. "Expanding Medicaid was the single most important issue facing the General Assembly this year, and House Republicans simply decided to give up. Although three weeks remain before the legislature adjourns for the year, the 2013 legislative session must already be considered a total and abject failure."

Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter:  @MarshallGReport

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Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.
Marshall Griffin
St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.