Opinion: MO hospitals will benefit from expanded healthcare

The most important issue facing the next Missouri General Assembly is whether to expand health care coverage for uninsured Missourians who have incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. (Poverty level equals an income of $23,050 for a family of four.) The costs and benefits of expansion have been analyzed in three studies: one by the Missouri Office of Budget and Planning, one by the Kaiser Foundation, and one by the University of Missouri Medical School in cooperation with Dobson, DaVanzo & Associates. The MU study is the most conservative, so I will rely upon it. The projected economic benefits and the number of Missourians covered by the expansion are substantially higher in the other two studies.