JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI – Republican lawmakers blocked Medicaid expansion funding from reaching the Missouri House floor on Thursday, posing a setback for the voter-approved plan to increase eligibility for the state health care program.

The House Budget Committee voted along party lines not to pass a bill allowing Missouri to spend $130 million in state funds and $1.6 billion in federal money to pay for the program’s expansion. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government picks up 90% of the tab on expanding Medicaid.

The increased eligibility would allow an estimated 230,000 additional low-income Missourians to be covered. It is set to go into effect in July, after voters approved a ballot question last August with a 53% majority.

Democrats slammed the vote as an attempt to subvert Missourians’ wishes to implement the expansion, which several Republicans said was unpopular in their own districts.

Democrats plan to re-introduce the funds into the rest of the state budget on the House floor. Budget Chair Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican, said he will introduce another bill to […]