Nixon touts Medicaid expansion in Cape Girardeau

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon was in Cape Girardeau on Thursday to promote expansion of the state's Medicaid program, two days after the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's board of directors voted to support the expansion with conditions.

Nixon spoke at the chamber's headquarters to local law enforcement personnel, education officials, hospital managers and officials and chamber members.

"The governor has said on many occasions that this expansion comes with a desire to hold the federal government accountable for their commitments, and ensure that Missourians and state budget fare better than they are now," said Thomas M. Meyer, chairman of the chamber's board of directors.

Nixon wants Missouri to participate in an expansion of Medicaid that would raise the income eligibility for adults, adding more people to the rolls. The federal government would pay 100 percent of the $5.7 billion expansion for the first three years, with a federal-state cost share after that. The state's share, according to Nixon, would be 5 percent in 2017, and not exceed 10 percent in 2022.

Republican state lawmakers are mostly opposed to Nixon's proposal and support reforms of the current system or a pared-down version of expansion, such as a bill sponsored by Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City. His bill proposes offering cash incentives to patients who hold down health-care costs. It would require private insurers to compete to cover lower-income patients who participate in Medicaid. About 180,000 more people would qualify for the program, but Nixon doesn't like several provisions within the bill, he said during an appearance in Jefferson City, Mo., earlier in the day.

In Cape Girardeau, Nixon said support of his proposal from health-care organizations and chambers of commerce was evidence Medicaid expansion would help boost the state's economy. He outlined what he called "costs of inaction."

"For these business leaders, this is not a political decision. It's economical. We shouldn't let last year's politics get in the way of next year's economic growth," he said.

Citing estimates from the Missouri Hospital Association, Nixon said not expanding Medicaid would mean 9,000 fewer Missouri jobs, more crowded emergency rooms and higher medical bills and insurance premiums. Not using federal dollars to expand Medicaid could mean less availability of mental health services, he said, because hospitals would respond to cuts by eliminating psychiatric inpatient beds. The governor said about 50,000 of the 300,000 people who would be covered under the expansion are in need of mental health services.

Among the terms of support from the local chamber is a condition that new Medicaid recipients sign an acknowledgment that the expansion could be rolled back after three years depending on funding. The chamber also wants to see the state maintain its AAA bond rating and see elected officials use the next three years to reform the system.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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