Hope springs eternal for supporters of Medicaid expansion.
Although bills for expansion have stalled in the General Assembly, versions of the law have appeared as pending amendments on other bills.
Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, thinks if representatives debate a bill with a Medicaid expansion amendment, the expansion would pass. He estimated there are 95 votes for the measure - 13 more than needed.
Kelly has pre-filed four such amendments.
If Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, holds up Senate bills with those amendments, Kelly said it "makes (Medicaid expansion) more difficult to avoid" in the long run.
As of Monday, 10 House and Senate bills included language from one of the pro-expansion bills sponsored by Rep. Noel Torpey, R-Independence.
Kelly, Torpey and three other representatives have pre-filed Medicaid amendments. The legislators have attached expansion amendments to bills on a variety of topics, such as liquor licensing legislation. That could violate the state constitution's requirement for legislation to be about a single topic.