Nixon unveils new health care plan
Gov. Jay Nixon is traveling to health centers across the state this week to announce a plan that would expand state health care coverage by about 34,800 Missourians without additional costs to taxpayers.
Nixon reached an agreement with the Missouri Hospital Association to transfer $52 million that normally would be used to compensate hospitals for taking care of uninsured patients. According to a release from Nixon's office, this expansion would allow Missouri to draw $93 million in federal matching funds for state-assisted health care.
“Ensuring that our workforce has access to quality, affordable health care is vital for turning our economy in the right direction,” Nixon stated in the release. “To provide for their children, parents must be healthy enough to get to work and perform on the job."
Nixon will be in Columbia at 9 a.m. tomorrow to announce the plan.
Currently, for Missourians to qualify for state health care, a family with two children would need to be making less than 20 percent of the federal poverty level. For Nixon's plan to go into action, the Missouri General Assembly would need to approve an expansion of Medicaid eligibility to 50 percent of the poverty level.