According to a new report by University of Missouri researchers, expanding Medicaid to more adults in Missouri would have a positive impact on the state’s economy and residents. The analysis comes amid Missouri now having to decide whether to expand Medicaid in 2014.
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the federal health law now gives states the option to expand Medicaid. That’s the public health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
The federal government would fully pay for an expansion during the first few years, but many state lawmakers, like Republican house speaker Tim Jones, worry about the long-term costs.
“It’s once again going down that road of the federal government offering a very generous carrot on the front end,” Jones said.
A group of state health leaders and policy experts hope to jump start a discussion about all of this with a new analysis commissioned by the Missouri hospital association and the Missouri foundation for health. The report found that a Medicaid expansion would result in thousands of new jobs and a healthier workforce, as tens of thousands of residents would gain health coverage. Joe Pierle is head of Missouri’s primary care association.
“This effort has the potential to have the greatest statewide economic impact in terms of job creation, income growth, and reve growth than any initiative considered by elected officials in past decade,” Pierle said.
Herb Kuhn, head of the state’s hospital association, says it would also help offset upcoming payment reductions to hospitals that care for uninsured patients.
“Absent this what we do know is that cuts to health care providers to the state are locked in and they’re booked as part of the federal law,” Kuhn said. “And those will start to hit pretty hard across the state. And so an opportunity to recover that and to manage that issue is critical.”
Several business groups, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, are also backing the expansion.