Committee votes to keep state health labs open

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A House committee voted Tuesday to keep state health labs open in Poplar Bluff and Springfield, saying residents shouldn't have to drive long distances for the services.

Gov. Bob Holden had proposed closing the auxiliary health labs, which employ a total of seven people between them. Holden had planned to increase use of a courier service to transport items to the state's only remaining lab in Jefferson City.

But a House appropriations panel determined that the state will bring in millions of dollars from the federal government that hadn't previously been in the budget. That would free up other state revenue that can be spent in other parts of the budget, including on the health labs.

"Every town that I represent in the Bootheel of Missouri has sent me a letter saying 'We want our lab open,'" said Rep. Otto Bean, R-Holcomb.

Bean gave the example of residents of Kennett, who can bring something to a lab and have it tested within three hours. If that sample had to travel to Jefferson City, he said, it might take those residents three days to hear back.

Some Democrats warned that keeping the labs open wouldn't be cost-efficient since the proposed budget would still cut other expenses for them. Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, D-Columbia, said the proposal would essentially keep the labs open with fewer supplies.

The committee also agreed to restore some Medicaid funding to pharmacies. The druggists' chief lobbyist had warned that cutting funding to pharmacies would actually cost the state extra federal funds.