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PrintJEFFERSON CITY — Any hope for health care legislation in the 2009 Missouri session died when both chambers adjourned at 6 p.m. Friday.
The situation became bleak when House leadership recessed early Thursday and indicated they would refuse to begin official negotiations on health care legislation, known as a conference committee, unless the Senate was able to pass an economic development bill by midnight. The Senate debated the bill late in the evening but did not pass an economic development bill until Friday morning.
The House did not bring up any health care legislation Friday, Republican leaders saying only that they did not like any Senate-proposed plan.
House bill handler Doug Ervin, R-Holt, said it was unfortunate that the two issues were tied together, but earlier conversations had not seemed promising.
"It was pretty clear when we had those discussions that we weren't going to reach any common ground," Ervin said.
The House and Senate both passed a health care bill, the Senate bill giving coverage to 35,000 working parents who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, the House version giving coverage to 20,000 people unable to get insurance because of preexisting conditions.
"Their plan was based on income. Our plan is based on health need. And I think that's the biggest difference," said Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, another House bill handler.
Individuals in both chambers expressed disappointment at the House's decision to hold up the bill's progress with their demand for an economic development bill.
When it became apparent the legislative process would stunt Senate Bill 306 from reaching a conference, bill sponsor Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles County, made a last-ditch effort to revive his efforts by attaching a new version as an amendment to another bill dealing with food stamps for the elderly.
Dempsey said he was willing to change the income requirement for his bill if it meant bringing more uninsurable people in under a later phase of the plan, but he could not get any specifics from the House.
"I said if that is not satisfactory to you, what would be?" Dempsey said. "Do you want to cover 20 to 40 percent (income earned as a percentage of the Federal Poverty Level) and use the rest toward the uninsurables? Twenty to 35 percent? Give me a position that's somewhere in between the House position and the Senate position, that I can go back to the Senate and try to sell to my colleagues. And I was never given an answer."
House Democrats said the inability to pass health care legislation was the biggest failure of the session.
"I just hope that none of them (Republicans) lose their job or go any time without health insurance because they are completely unwilling to lend a helping hand," said Stephen Webber, D-Columbia.
"They rejected Gov. Nixon's plan to expand Medicaid; they rejected health insurance for children, and now they're rejecting a plan to give health insurance to 35,000 people," said House Minority Leader Paul LeVota, D-Jackson County. "They simply do not want to deal with this issue."
House Republicans also cited the influence of lobbyists, specifically the Missouri Hospital Association, that had too much hold on the Senate plan.
Covering working parents or uninsurable people wasn't the only part of the health care debate. Both the House and the Senate voted down SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The House made a motion to reconsider the issue, but the bill was ultimately voted down again.
Efforts on a bill that would mandate insurance companies cover autism also never made it to the governor's desk — an issue the governor said could be key to calling a special session.
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