Dear Editor:
It is appalling to me how eager Sen. Mike Kehoe and our state Legislature are to turn a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of Missourians unable to afford health insurance. Right now, if Missourians make even 20 percent of the federal poverty line they lose their qualification for Medicaid.
This is shockingly, cruelly low. Three hundred thousand of our friends and neighbors across the state remain stuck in a coverage gap between qualifying for Medicaid and receiving subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, and despite 28 states already expanding Medicaid, our Republican legislators cling to their ideology.
But why? Missouri is set to lose $17.8 billion in federal funding through 2022 if no action is taken. How can you willingly turn your back on billions of dollars that would help save the lives of your constituents?
What's worse is the blatant ignorance and apathy to the fact that states like Kentucky have cut their rates of uninsured individuals, created jobs in medical facilities, increased worker productivity, and are on track to be $919 million dollars wealthier by 2021 all because of Medicaid expansion.
Counties and numbers of uninsured Missourians in coverage gap: Callaway 5184; Cole 7843; Gasconade 2103; Miller 3939; Moniteau 2232; Morgan 3571; Total 24,872.
Numbers are people, and people should mean more than money.
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