JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Cole County judge will hear arguments Monday in a lawsuit over whether to expand Missouri's Medicaid program.
The lawsuit, filed last month by three people who would be eligible for coverage under expansion, seeks to force the state to enroll the newly eligible in Medicaid despite the legislature not appropriating money for expansion and the governor withdrawing plans to open up Medicaid rolls to more people.
Judge Jon Beetem will hear the arguments after the case was filed last month in Cole County. It's not clear whether he will issue a ruling Monday but the state's new fiscal year starts July 1, which was set to be the date enrollment would start for newly eligible Missourians.
The state has argued that the legislature did not approve money to pay for the cost of expansion. Voters approved it with a ballot measure last year as a constitutional amendment, but the state says that under the Missouri Constitution the ballot measure required appropriations because it didn't have a funding source built in.
The lawyers who brought the lawsuit say the state has money available to pay for expansion. If the cost is greater than expected the state can appropriate more money for the program, they argue.
MO HealthNet, the name of the state's Medicaid program, has one of the nation's strictest eligibility rules. It does not cover most non-disabled adults without children. Parents are able to qualify if their household income is below 21% of the federal poverty line, which in 2021 is less than $5,000 a year for a family of three.
Advocates say about 275,000 Missourian would be newly eligible if the state follows through with expansion.
Check back for updates to this developing story and watch ABC 17 News.
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June 22, 2021 at 12:19AM
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