Some health care advocates are suing the state of Missouri over legal limits on the counselors enlisted to help consumers navigate the new online health insurance marketplace.
A new Missouri law requires insurance counselors to get state licenses to help online shoppers negotiate the federal insurance exchange. Missouri's Republican-led Legislature opted against setting up a state-run exchange.
A lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City says the state requirements "directly conflict" with the federal Affordable Care Act and place groups like the nonprofit St. Louis Effort for AIDs in an "untenable position."
The plaintiffs include Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri; Missouri Jobs for Justice; former Democratic state lawmaker Jeanette Mott Oxford; and a Kansas City community organizer.
