Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a proposed constitutional amendment last week that will remand to Missourians a 2020 approval of a ballot initiative that permanently expanded Medicaid.
“I can't say I'm surprised,” said Attorney Charles Hatfield, partner at the Stinson law firm in Jefferson City. “I do think Missouri needs to think about how to deal with this phenomenon where the voters vote for something, and then immediately the legislature comes back and tries to undo it or asks them to vote again as if the voters didn't know what they were doing.”
Medicaid expansion under MO HealthNet program began last October after voters approved the initiative in 2020, according to media reports.
“I'm not surprised by this latest proposal because there is a group within the Republican party who have spent nearly the last 10 years now talking about how to stop or undo Obamacare,” Hatfield told the St. Louis Record.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the Missouri Supreme Court decided unanimously last year to reverse and remand Cole County Judge Jon Beetem’s opinion in Stephanie Doyle, et al. v. Jennifer Tidball, et al declaring Medicaid expansion unconstitutional.
“To be fair, if the people want to change the constitution, they can,” Hatfield said. “This initiative recognizes that under current law Medicaid expansion has happened and they are acknowledging that they really don't have any practical choice but to go ahead and provide the funding that the people voted for. The only way they can get out of it is to go and try to amend the constitution even though the people just amended it. They are also going to have to deal with whether the federal government will be okay with approaching it this way.”
Hatfield was the attorney who represented the plaintiffs in Stephanie Doyle, et al. v. Jennifer Tidball, et al and argued their position before the Missouri Supreme Court.
"They are also going to have to deal with whether the federal government will be okay with approaching it this way," he added. "When you mess around with Medicaid, you also have to comply with federal requirements. That's a whole other can of worms. I also think there is still a lot of resolve by the folks that supported Medicaid expansion. I think they'll fight hard to keep Medicaid expansion."