Dear Editor:
Under federal health reform, Missouri could expand its Medicaid eligibility, providing access to health care coverage for about 300,000 Missourians, while saving the state about $100 million annually that could be used for education or other purposes.
A recent national analysis examined actual state budget savings in eight states that have expanded Medicaid. The report found that just a year and a half into expansion, those states would have experienced savings and revenue increases of more than $1.8 billion.
Similarly, Missouri would save significant state revenue by expanding Medicaid. By moving people from existing state-funded services into the federally funded Medicaid expansion, Missouri could net savings of at least $100 million per year in state general revenue dollars when the expansion is fully implemented.
That amount is net of new state general revenue costs for the expanded coverage. These are real dollars that would be saved in the state's budget and which could be used to increase funding for other state services.
Medicaid expansion would provide access to health care for hundreds of thousands of Missourians, including 50,000 Missourians with mental illness, 40,000 with developmental disabilities, and 20,000 veterans and their spouses.
These and thousands of working Missourians currently fall into a health care "coverage gap" - unable to access Missouri Medicaid or federal income tax credits.
But the impacts of Missouri's low Medicaid eligibility limits go even beyond the lack of health care coverage for low-income working adults highlighted in a recent News Tribune story, Missouri's Medicaid eligibility limits among lowest in U.S.
Medicaid expansion would bolster health care coverage, improving the health of Missourians, and the $100 million in annual savings to the state budget would allow Missouri to invest in improvements to other public services.