Tagged: federal healthcare law

A federal judge in St. Louis has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the contraception mandate of the federal health care law.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Frank O'Brien and his company, O'Brien Industrial Holdings LLC of St. Louis, was one of nearly three dozen cases nationally challenging the constitutionality of regulations in the health care law. Among other things, O'Brien, a devout Catholic, claimed the requirement to pay for birth control infringes on his religious beliefs.

Few issues have generated as much passion and attention recently as health care. Like many Democrats and Republicans around the nation, Missouri's U.S. Senate candidates are on opposites sides of the issue.

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill supports and defends the health care law signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama. Her Republican challenger, congressman Todd Akin, wants to repeal it.

But there may be at least some middle ground.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the federal health law, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is not taking a clear stance on whether he thinks the state should take part in a voluntary expansion of its Medicaid program.  The health law originally required states to raise Medicaid eligibility to about 130 percent of the federal poverty level. But the Supreme Court ruling now leaves that decision up to states.  Speaking to reporters in Kansas City Monday, Nixon said he hopes to work with providers, businesses, and lawmakers to figure out what’s best for Missouri.

A new report by the Missouri Foundation for Health estimates that about two-thirds of Missouri’s more than 800,000 uninsured could get health insurance under the federal health care law. The county level data suggest that rural counties will benefit the most.

Some of Missouri's largest insurance companies will be refunding consumers almost $61 million this month under a provision of the federal healthcare law. Insurers who failed to spend at least 80 percent of premium-dollars on medical care and quality improvement have to repay the difference to consumers.