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Missouri lawmakers are mulling whether to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives.
Autumn Stultz makes too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but would if Missouri follows through with a ballot initiative that passed last year.
With the legislature refusing to fund expansion, Stultz, who works as a caregiver for her mother in Springfield, is understandably anxious about whether she can afford medical care
for herself.
“They’re not listening to the Missouri voters. They’re not listening to their constituents,” Stultz said. “And it’s really ticking a lot of people off.”
Republicans have put forth a number of reasons why they’re not funding Medicaid expansion, primarily how they don’t want to saddle the state with future financial commitments. But the debate over that ballot item is part of a broader aversion among some Republicans to the initiative petition process. And Missouri is following other GOP-led states in trying to curtail groups from getting big policy proposals up for a public vote.