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Missouri hospitals lobby for changes to new Medicaid payment system
Missouri lawmakers must finish work on the fiscal 2022 budget by Friday. And while the biggest spending issue of the session, Medicaid expansion, is off the table, there are other big issues to resolve in the state-run health care program. One of the largest is whether to provide a cushion for hospitals that will lose […]
Missouri Gaming Commission chooses former judge as new chief
Peggy Richardson, a former circuit judge from Central Missouri, will be the new executive director of the Missouri Gaming Commission, a news release issued Thursday stated. Richardson, who was on the bench for 22 years, takes over an agency facing several challenges and will bring a fresh perspective from outside, Chairman Mike Leara said in […]
Missouri Senate rejects funding for voter-approved Medicaid expansion
The Missouri Senate voted against funding Medicaid expansion Wednesday night, after a debate that will not be the final word on whether 275,000 Missourians become eligible for coverage on July 1. By a 14-20 vote, with four Republicans breaking ranks with the rest of their party, the Senate rejected an amendment to the Department of […]
Defeat of gambling bill likely dooms legislative push against ‘gray market’ machines
The Missouri Senate late Tuesday defeated a three-pronged effort to expand gambling in Missouri while suppressing unregulated devices that offer cash prizes to players. The vote that defeated the bill may have been the last chance this legislative session to address the proliferation of devices that some prosecutors have attacked as illegal and that others […]
Democrats vow court battle if lawmakers don’t fund Missouri Medicaid expansion
With the Missouri Senate poised for what promises to be a lengthy debate over Medicaid expansion, legislative Democrats said Tuesday that the fight over funding will move to the courts if lawmakers don’t approve money for the new coverage. During a rally on the Capitol Building lawn, Senate Democrats promised to push for adding the […]
Missouri colleges gain most in House construction spending proposal
Lawmakers are starting to fulfill the wish lists for new construction and repair funding by tapping money from the extra federal share of Medicaid the state is receiving due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the University of Missouri, there’s $15 million for a new veterinary medicine diagnostic laboratory on the Columbia campus. For Truman State […]
University of Missouri to close center studying state economy, taxes
A little over a year ago, when the University of Missouri needed to show the value of a new research center under construction in Columbia, administrators tapped an in-house research center that’s been analyzing the state’s economy since the early 1970s. The Economic and Policy Analysis Research Center’s report estimated that the $221 million NextGen […]
Missouri Medicaid expansion fails Senate committee on tie vote
The Senate Appropriations Committee set the stage for a lengthy floor debate on Medicaid expansion, with a split vote late Wednesday on a plan offered by Republican Sen. Lincoln Hough. Hough, vice chairman of the committee, and two other Republicans joined with all four Democrats in support of a proposal that would have implemented the […]
Governor demands resignation of David Steelman from University of Missouri curators
Gov. Mike Parson is demanding that David Steelman, the longest-serving member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, resign to make way for a replacement. In a letter dated April 14, Parson wrote to Steelman that an orderly process for replacing curators in expired terms “is critical at this juncture in order to provide […]
New anti-abortion effort derails Missouri Medicaid funding bill
A third attempt to get a bill that funds one-quarter of Missouri’s Medicaid program through the state Senate failed Tuesday night when a new anti-abortion issue was injected into the legislation. Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, brought the bill that has been in limbo since late March to the floor just a few hours after telling […]
Missouri spending bill would offer money for mortgage help, utility bills
Help may be coming for Missouri homeowners behind on their mortgage payments because of COVID-19 income losses. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday added $150 million in federal mortgage assistance funds to the supplemental spending bill for the current fiscal year, one of several new sections using money from pandemic relief bills passed by Congress […]
Greitens says supporters have ‘bar-fight intensity’ in bid for Missouri Senate seat
MACON — Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens showed he still has an enthusiastic following among rural voters Friday night, with his entrance at the Macon County Lincoln Days highlighted by an extended standing ovation. Greitens, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2022, waited to make his entrance until the evening’s most […]