Missouri Supreme Court to hear Medicaid expansion case on July 13

(The Center Square) – Lawyers arguing for Missouri to implement voter-approved Medicaid expansion skipped the appeals court and will argue the case before the state’s Supreme Court in July.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, posted on social media on Friday the state’s highest court granted the joint motion for an expedited briefing. Arguments will begin at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 13.

“The court sets the timeline,” Hatfield said in an interview last week with KWMU radio. “The attorney general’s office agreed with us to ask the court for an expedited briefing schedule.”

Last week, Cole County Circuit Court Judge John Beetem ruled in favor of the defendants, the Missouri Department of Social Services, the MO HealthNet division – the current Medicaid program – and the Family Support Division. The agencies argued Amendment 2 – approved by 53% of voters last August – didn’t contain a funding mechanism.

However, Beetem agreed with the plaintiff’s argument on funding, but said Amendment 2 was unconstitutional – an argument Solicitor General John Sauer didn’t bring up in the state’s briefings or at trial.

“It’s not the first time I’ve ever seen that happen, but it’s very unusual that you have a decision that addresses an issue that neither party raised,” Hatfield said.

Beetem was critical of the General Assembly’s reason for excluding newly eligible Medicaid recipients. The state agencies were ordered by Gov. Mike Parson on May 13 to discontinue preparations for Medicaid expansion due to a lack of funding appropriated by the legislature during its 2021 session.

“If Amendment 2 was validly enacted, the Plaintiffs are absolutely right,” Beetem wrote in the first paragraph of analysis in a six-page ruling. “Any appropriation for Medicaid services would be available for all eligibles, including the Medicaid expansion class of eligibles, not just those who are eligible prior to July 1, 2021. Existing case law makes it excruciatingly clear that the General Assembly cannot, via the appropriations process, exclude the class of eligibles created by Amendment 2 and the subsequent payment of Medicaid benefits to them. The Court rejects the semantic and legal gymnastics offered by the State on the issue of intent and whether or not Medicaid Expansion was actually funded…”

Although Hatfield lost in Beetem’s court, he was encouraged by his opinion and hopeful for success at the state’s highest court.

“I’m a glass half-full kind of guy,” Hatfield said. “I think (Beetem) did us a favor because we can now go straight to the Missouri Supreme Court. When we presented the case, we thought we’d have to go to the Court of Appeals. It really wasn’t a constitutional issue, just an issue of funding. But now that Judge Beetem has found a provision of the constitution to itself be unconstitutional… “

Attorneys Hatfield and Lowell Pearson filed the original suit on May 20 on behalf of three women – representative of 275,000 additional Missourians – with significant health care needs who satisfied the requirements passed by voters to be eligible for Medicaid – between the ages 19 and 65 and earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

Chris Nuelle, a spokesman with the Missouri attorney general’s office, declined to comment but acknowledged the filing with the Missouri Supreme Court.

“Folks who are waiting deserve to know if they’re not going to get Medicaid… or if they are going to get Medicaid,” Hatfield said. “With this, we sort of skip the playoffs and head straight to the Super Bowl.”

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