More Missourians Eligible for Medicaid

Applications are now being accepted for Medicaid Programs in Missouri after expansion takes effect.

KTLO and the Associated Press reports that several thousand Missourians who previously were not eligible for Medicaid are expected to seek the health care coverage, now that voter-approved expansion of the program has taken effect.

Friday marked the day the health care program began processing applications. Voters approved Medicaid expansion in August 2020. The constitutional amendment passed with 53% of the vote.

Previously, Missouri’s health care program did not cover most adults without children, and its income eligibility threshold for parents was one of the lowest in the nation, at about one-fifth of the poverty level. The expansion is expected to add Medicaid eligibility for up to 275,000 low-income Missourians.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people have applied for Medicaid under the expansion. An email message left Friday with a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Social Services wasn’t immediately returned.

The expansion was the subject of a court case that wound up in the Missouri Supreme Court, where a July decision paved the way for the plan to move forward.