EDITORIAL: Missourians should use petitions to go around lawmakers on Medicaid expansion
Now, petition-wielding activists in a few other states are charting a path that Missourians of conscience could follow: using ballot measures to get around obstructionist politicians who have until now stymied the expanded coverage that most Americans want.
Obamacare was originally structured to include an expansion of Medicaid, the national health care system for the poor, so that it would cover Americans who make too much money to qualify under the current Medicaid system but not enough to afford even subsidized health insurance.
Unfortunately, the
Yet, years later,
Obamacare, pure and simple, and it remains a singularly shameful abdication of duty to their constituents.
In some of those states today, finally, citizens are saying enough. As the
--Almost 60 percent of
--
--
--In red-as-it-gets
"Perhaps the ground might be softening," Jen Bersdale, executive director of Missouri Health Care for All, told the
Here's hoping she's right. It's too late for this November, but Missourians who believe health care is a basic human right that shouldn't be left to the mercy of partisans and ideologues should start organizing those petition drives now, with an eye toward 2020.
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