© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Nixon Administration: Mo. Could Gain From Medicaid

Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon reached out to St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley Wednesday in hopes of helping to keep open some county parks slated for closure.
UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon reached out to St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley Wednesday in hopes of helping to keep open some county parks slated for closure.

Gov. Jay Nixon's administration is bolstering his plan to expand Missouri's Medicaid program with an analysis estimating that it could save the state money in the near future.

Figures released this past week by Nixon's budget office show Missouri could see a nearly $47 million increase in general revenues during the first year of the Medicaid expansion in 2014. That boost in state revenues would grow to nearly $140 million in 2016 before beginning to decline.

As called for under President Barack Obama's health care law, the federal government would pay the full cost the first three years of the Medicaid expansion before states gradually pick up a 10 percent share.

Missouri's Republican legislative leaders have cited concerns about long-term costs while expressing opposition to the Medicaid expansion.

Follow St. Louis Public Radio on Twitter@stlpublicradio

  • See more stories on politics and policy from St. Louis Public Radio, the St. Louis Beacon and Nine Network of Public Media at BeyondNovember.org.