Missouri Votes on Medicaid Expansion
On Aug. 4, Missouri voters approved an expansion of their Medicaid program through
an amendment to the state Constitution, making it the second state to pass an
expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative passed with 53.25% support
and will go into effect on July 1, 2021.
Missouri
now joins 37 other states as well as the District
of Colombia in having approved Medicaid expansion. This continues the trend of
traditionally conservative states passing Medicaid expansion; Oklahoma having
been the most recent to do so on June 30. Expanding Medicaid through a ballot
initiative effectively bars elected officials from making major modifications
to the plan, an issue that has appeared in other states where voter-approved Medicaid expansion has been explored.
The potential impact on MO HealthNet, Missouri’s Medicaid program, could be significant.
In 2019, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis estimated that as many
as 230,000 Missouri residents would enroll in Medicaid if it were expanded. As
of 2018, 9.3% of Missouri’s population was uninsured. Opponents of the measure
were concerned that an increase in eligibility could result in additional financial
burden for the state budget, particularly during the economic uncertainty surrounding
the pandemic. In fact, between February and May, Missouri saw an increase
of 9% in Medicaid enrollment.
