Judge Strikes Down Missouri Medicaid Expansion Passed by Voters

[essentialsaltes]

Last August, the voters of Missouri approved Missouri Amendment 2 by 53%.

Despite the change to the state constitution to expand Medicaid, the GOP-dominated legislature has managed a veto of sorts. They voted down bills that would have provided funding to enact the will of the people.

Some citizens sued to get access, and a judge has now ruled against them.

[Judge] Beetem’s decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by expansion supporters who argued that they should be able to enroll in the government-funded health care program on July 1 even though the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Mike Parson failed to earmark money to pay for additional participants.

“The state constitution provides that state revenues may not be expended without an appropriation. Accordingly, this Court declines to order the implementation of Medicaid Expansion as requested in Count 1,” Beetem wrote.

Attorney Chuck Hatfield, who represented the women, said Beetem agreed with the plaintiffs but ruled on an issue that was not even raised by attorneys for the state.

 

[Pommer]

Attorney Chuck Hatfield, who represented the women, said Beetem agreed with the plaintiffs but ruled on an issue that was not even raised by attorneys for the state.

“Activist judge” won’t be mentioned by the usual folk because the ruling happens to agree with their side.

 

[hedrick]

I can sort of see the judge's point. You don't want a judge appropriating money. If legislators refuse to carry out the constitution, there are alternatives, some requiring another amendment. The simplest is to vote them out. Or if they're gerrymandered, change the approach to creating districts.

 

[Fantine]

I moved out of Missouri in 2000 and am continually horrified at how the politics in that state has deteriorated since then.

If the voters passed a citizen-initiated referendum for expanded Medicaid, then the legislature has to put it in its budget--as they do any other law!

And a few years ago, citizens in Missouri passed an anti-gerrymandering lawyer, and the governor (I think it might be the philandering one who was forced out of office) said they wouldn't honor it because he didn't think the voters understood what it meant!

If citizens get the government they deserve, Missouri has a swampful of candidates---for Senate in 2022--the philandering ex-governor v.s. the overenthusiastic gunslinging home defender. Ugh! And then they have Hawley, who supported insurrection.

 

[jayem]

I moved out of Missouri in 2000 and am continually horrified at how the politics in that state has deteriorated since then.

Sad, but true. I'm not a native, but I've lived here 40 years. If nothing else, it's economical. (Second lowest gas taxes in the country. And a house that would cost 7 figures elsewhere can be had for the mid 6 figures.) But politically, it is a wasteland. If Harry Truman could return to life, and see how the politics in his state have devolved, he'd die a second time.

 

[CatsRule2020]

I am very confident that Missouri is going to be punished in many ways and in the severest way possible. When you cross that metaphysical line you are in for real trouble. We who have studied the scriptures and experienced a certain amount of life, know when that boot is going to drop.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Fate of Missouri Medicaid expansion will soon be in the hands of the state Supreme Court
Arguments on whether the state must expand the health insurance program for the poor begin at 11 a.m.

The seven judges must decide whether Medicaid eligibility will expand, as directed by the constitutional amendment approved by voters, or, as Cole County Judge Jon Beetem ruled, if it was fatally flawed because it did not include a new source of revenue to pay the anticipated costs.

The court’s only other option, suggested by Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office in its final written brief, is to leave people eligible for coverage without actually providing it unless lawmakers explicitly fund it.

Ever heard of a wish sandwich?

 

[Fantine]

Residents: These legislators aren't represented you. Didn't they sidetrack a gerrymandering referendum, too? How blatantly callous can they get? Vote them out!

 

[hedrick]

Residents: These legislators aren't represented you. Didn't they sidetrack a gerrymandering referendum, too? How blatantly callous can they get? Vote them out!

If they let you. What’s to stop them from ignoring that vote, too?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Fate of Missouri Medicaid expansion will soon be in the hands of the state Supreme Court

Missouri Supreme Court sides with Medicaid expansion supporters

 

[hedrick]

Generally constitutional amendments supersede other legal requirement. I’m a bit surprised any court would consider the constitution unconstitutional.

 

[Fantine]

Can't believe how far downhill this state has gone since I moved from St. Louis County in 2000. It used to be an amazing place to live. Now it seems like the tail is wagging the dog--the tail being a useless appendage on most animals.

And their candidates for Senate. Yikes! The unfaithful sexting ex-governor v.s. the armed vigilante waving his assault weapon around at peaceful demonstrators. Surely Missouri can do better than that.

The sad part is that rural hospitals would close and the state would get far less federal aid without an expanded Medicaid program. The people are right. The courts are right. The people have to elect better elected officials.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Missouri Supreme Court sides with Medicaid expansion supporters

Missouri's GOP legislature has had about enough of these voters making decisions.

Missouri legislators aim to make it harder for citizens to change state law, constitution​

Nearly a dozen proposals pre-filed this month would ask voters to increase the requirements for ballot initiatives that change the state's constitution or laws. Missouri's current initiative petition process allows proposals that make it to the ballot to be approved with a simple majority of votes cast.

Efforts to restrict that process, which have been a priority of Republicans in Jefferson City for several years, come in the wake of voters legalizing recreational marijuana in November.

That initiative, known as Amendment 3, was only the most recent ballot measure to originate outside the statehouse. Voters in recent years greenlit medical marijuana (2018) and Medicaid expansion (2020) by the same process.

A few of the proposals, including one filed by Rep. Bishop Davidson of Republic, would require a majority of all of Missouri's registered voters, not just those who turn out for an election, to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment — a monumental mark that none of the state's recent ballot measures have come close to approaching.

 

[mark46]

Changes in a state constitution should require more than a one-time majority vote.

 

[Fantine]

In expanding Medicaid the people show they have more sense than their legislators.
Shame on Missouri legislators for trying to subvert the will of the people.
Arkansas just tried the same thing--a referendum requiring citizen referendums to pass by 60%.
Obviously it failed.

The real problem is that voters elect these knaves who conspire to take away their rights.