Missouri Supreme Court reverses Medicaid expansion decision
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday vacated a lower court's decision in the state's Medicaid expansion case, agreeing that the voter-approved plan to offer Medicaid to more people should stand.
The unanimous decision sends the case back to Cole County Circuit Court. The state Supreme Court ruled that the 2020 ballot measure approving expansion of the government-operated health care plan did not violate the Missouri Constitution because it "does not appropriate money and does not remove the General Assembly's discretion in appropriating money to MO HealthNet."
The ruling came just nine days after the Supreme Court heard the case, and a month after a Cole County judge overturned the constitutional amendment that Republican Gov. Mike Parson had refused to implement after the GOP-led Legislature didn't provide any funding.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three women who were newly eligible for Medicaid. Their attorney, Chuck Hatfield, told the Supreme Court last week that the actions by the state would essentially "overturn the election."
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/health/missouri-medicaid-expansion-supreme-court-reverses-decision/63-881bbfc5-cf53-4a9d-ae63-aac859a70cd5