An interim Missouri House committee has resumed examining the state’s Medicaid system this week.
Lawmakers spent part of Tuesday taking a closer look at how some other states with GOP-led legislatures have expanded Medicaid.
Committee member Chris Molendorp was the only House Republican to support Medicaid expansion during this year’s legislative session. He says Missouri should consider adopting Florida’s practice of using Medicaid to cover so-called wrap-around services, such as providing transportation for kidney dialysis patients.
“A co-pay, a spend-down, a deductible, whatever you want to call it, is not relevant – they can’t get to the dialysis clinic," Molendorp said. "They either are so ill they cannot drive, or they don’t own a car, or they don’t have a friend or family member who's in a position to drive them.”
The committee also discussed Arkansas’s recently approved Medicaid expansion, in which federal money will be used to help the poor buy private health insurance coverage.
