Fixing Medicaid

Saturday, February 13, 2021

Among the many new experiences I've had since coming to the Senate has been an increased focus on health care issues. As a member of the Senate's Health and Pensions Committee I'm now exposed to the complexities of health care programs at a much deeper level than I ever was while serving in the House of Representatives. One thing is increasingly clear to me: Medical costs consume a tremendous portion of Missouri's state budget, and make it difficult to address many other needs. Many other programs go without adequate funding for years, but the social services piece of the budget pie, with Medicaid being the largest part, continues to grow. Now that voters have approved Medicaid expansion, I'm worried the percentage of the budget devoted to health care is going to grow exponentially.

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