KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In August, Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion, and now the topic has taken center stage in the race for Missouri Governor.
A campaign ad from Democratic candidate, Nicole Galloway says her opponent, Mike Parson, opposes Medicaid expansion.
Before voters approved Medicaid expansion, Gov. Parson expressed his opposition during a COVID-19 press briefing earlier this year.
"I don't think it's a time to be expanding anything in the state of Missouri right now. I'm telling you we're going to have challenges going into 2021 when it comes to meeting the budget with what we currently have,” Parson explained.
Governor Parson said expanding Medicaid is too costly.
Despite his opposition, voters approved Amendment 2, which expands Medicaid to low-income adults.
"The people of the State of Missouri voted that in, so we're going to have to deal with it and implement it. The biggest thing is where do you find the funding for it right now. You're probably looking at $200 million or something like that,” Parson said.
The $200 million price tag comes from Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway's office.
In Galloway’s campaign ad, the Democrat said her plan to expand Medicaid won’t break the bank.
On her website, she supports her claim of no cuts or tax hikes with a report from Washington University which says, "we find that a Medicaid expansion in Missouri is approximately revenue-neutral and could create cost savings."
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