After declining to expand Medicaid coverage this year, the Missouri House has passed a bill that would create a committee to study the issue next year.
The House passed the measure 133-27 yesterday. It would create a joint committee of House and Senate members to look at ways to "transform" the state's Medicaid program. The committee would begin at the end of the current session until the 2015 session's start in January.
The Missouri Department of Social Services has announced it will scale back on its participation in a contract to move welfare recipients onto federal disability.
Gov. Jay Nixon's administration says it is expecting more than 1,000 people to rally at the Missouri Capitol in support of Medicaid expansion. The Democratic governor plans to speak at this afternoon's event as part of his effort to expand Medicaid to more lower-income adults as envisioned by the federal health care law.
Republican legislators so far have refused to embrace a Medicaid expansion. And the prospects may be getter dimmer.
