Former U.S. Sen. Kit Bond speaks with reporters about Medicaid expansion. (PoliticMo Photo)
JEFFERSON CITY, MO. – Former Republican U.S. Sen. Kit Bond is remaining consistent in his criticism of the federal health care law, despite advocating on behalf of one of its biggest components.
Bond, a former Missouri governor, is working on behalf of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce’s in supporting Medicaid expansion in Missouri. Speaking at a conference hosted by the Missouri Chamber, Bond said it was cuts elsewhere in the federal health care law that necessitate action on expansion.
“The big issue is nobody likes Obamacare, and count me in,” Bond said. On Medicaid, he said, “this is not Obamacare — this is the Missouri solution that will help counter the devastating impacts of Obamacare.”
Bond pointed to the cuts to uncompensated care payments from the federal government to hospitals included in the bill. The law was set up assuming Medicaid would be expanded in all 50 states, but the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the health care law made that provision optional, allowing states to decide whether they want to expand their program.
Bond said as governor and later as a U.S. Senator, he was always in favor of bringing home tax dollars sent to Washington, D.C., by the state, and that his support for Medicaid expansion now is in that same spirit. If Missouri were to “sit on the sidelines,” Bond said, it could lose up to $2 billion in federal funds in 2014, alone.
“By acting this year,” Bond said, “we can put those dollars to work reforming Medicaid, protecting access to health care, and safeguarding our budget.”
Bond has been enlisted by the Missouri Chamber to lobby wary Republicans on the issue. His messaging contrasts with that of some Republicans, who argue that hospitals are to blame for supporting a bill that included the cuts to uncompensated care payments.
Only one bill has been filed in the legislature supporting full expansion to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, as called for by the 2010 law. That bill was filed by Rep. Noel Torpey, a Kansas City-area Republican who led a summer-long statewide listening tour to hear from Missourians on the issue.
The Missouri Chamber said a handful of bills have been filed in the legislature that could serve as vehicles for expansion, but are unlikely to move until later in session, likely after candidate filing ends because the political reality is such that Republicans, even those who may be supportive of some sort of expansion, could almost certainly face a primary opponent. After a handful of them split with their party on a major tax cut issue in the 2013 veto session, that is not a risk many are ready to take.