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State Budget Endorsed; Medicaid Expansion Defeated

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The Missouri House has given first-round approval to the state budget for Fiscal Year 2014, while House Republicans beat back three attempts to expand Medicaid.

First, the GOP majority defeated a motion Tuesday morning to send one of the budget bills back to committee and then add Medicaid expansion to it. Then last night, two amendments were voted down which would have expanded Medicaid by about $944 million. The motion was made by Democrat Jeff Roorda of Jefferson County.

“We shouldn’t be leaving rural hospitals out in the cold, we shouldn’t be leaving our economy out in the cold,” Roorda said. “This would be the biggest economic boom of any of our legislative careers, make no mistake about that.”

Republican House Member Kevin Engler of Farmington argued that expansion should not take place without reform.

“Why expand a system that’s broken, that even the proponents say there’s 25-30% fraud in the system? Why should we expand that when we can reform it and do it right away,” Engler said.

St. Louis County Democrat Rory Ellinger says without the expansion, the poor will continue to rely on emergency rooms as their primary caregivers.

“If you’re not having a heart attack, you’re gonna be given some pills and you’re gonna be sent home, and more and more people are gonna die,” Ellinger said.

The 13 budget bills need one more round of votes before moving to the Missouri Senate.

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