Take Healthcare Decisions Away from States

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Here is why we need a national healthcare plan that works for everyone. Last week, in the final days of the Missouri legislative session, Republican House members defeated a bill that would have expanded the state’s Medicaid rolls WITHOUT costing the state anything. Does this make any sense?
 
“The House succeeded in killing a plan pushed by [Governor] Nixon, the Missouri Hospital Association, several business groups and state Senate leaders -- notably state Sen. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles -- that would have expanded the state's Medicaid rolls to include another 35,000 low-income, working people without using state tax dollars,” according to the Beacon.
 
The Hospital Association agreed to cover the costs to the state which would also leverage additional federal dollars. There is no legitimate reason why Missouri should not do this. Opponents in the legislature explained their opposition by calling it “welfare.” As if name calling and labeling could justify not providing medical coverage to people who need it most. Besides that, it is against their own interests since, as we all know, providing such coverage relieves the financial burden borne by Emergency Rooms which gets passed on to all of us with insurance. The only real reason Republicans would oppose this measure is to not allow the new Governor to have this “win” in his column. This is state level politics and partisanship to a new, and in my opinion, unacceptable height.