As more than a hundred advocates walked down the road leading to Missouri's Capitol, it marked the end of a 150-mile march for some members who traveled from Kansas City and St. Louis.
As protesters crowded into the chamber hallways, their voices echoed throughout the marble building.
"Missouri House, shame on you," they chanted. "We should take your insurance, too!"
The advocates gathered in Jefferson City Wednesday to urge lawmakers to expand the Medicaid program to the levels allowed by federal reforms. Individuals who earned up to 138 percent of the national poverty level, or about $25,000 for a family of three, would be eligible for the care program if it were expanded.
"Today is the day we work in unity for our community," Bishop Tony R. Caldwell said to the crowd outside the Capitol. "And our community is Missouri."
The budget for the upcoming fiscal year signed by Gov. Jay Nixon last Friday did not include an expansion of Medicaid, which would add almost 300,000 Missourians to the program's eligibility.
"People are dying because of political reasons, and there's no use for it," Grass Roots Organizing Director Robin Acree said. She hopes voters will recognize "who's keeping folks from having health care coverage."
Democrats in the legislature pushed for Medicaid's expansion this session, but the notion did not have enough support to get through the Republican supermajority.
Jen Bersdale, the executive director of Missouri Health Care For All, said it was a "moral outrage" that lawmakers had remained inactive on Medicaid.
"We've come here today to say, "Expand health care, close the coverage gap,'" she said. "And that we're not going away until they do what is right."
Those rallying also advocated for a working wage, a better education system and more job opportunities for individuals who had been convicted of a crime.
Pastor Branden Mims, one of the leaders of the rally, reiterated the group would return to the Capitol until they were heard. After finishing up a prayer, he gave the crowd one last bit of motivation.
"If they don't hear us today," Mims said, "they will hear us on Election Day."