By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – The top Republican and Democrat in the Missouri Senate want to expand the state's Senior RX program.
Senior RX offer prescription drug coverage for about 19,000 seniors.
It started before Congress expanded Medicare last year to cover some drug costs.
But Republican Peter Kinder and Democrat Ken Jacob say Congress's law left some seniors out.
Kinder says the bipartisan legislation would fill that gap.
"Missouri will be the first state in the nation so to act, to marry up our coverage with the federal coverage and to fill the doughnut hole in the federal program."
The "doughnut hole" is the idea that the Medicare coverage will cover a certain percentage of drugs costs to a certain point. The coverage will then pick up again with much higher costs, but leaves a range where there's no coverage.
Senior RX applies to those who are too rich for Medicaid but too poor to afford private health insurance.
Both Kinder and Jacob expect the change to win bipartisan approval.