12 states still refuse to expand Medicaid. Why that’s a problem for all of us

In 2020, Missouri residents voted to expand Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor. Under the terms of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the federal government contributes more generous funding to states that offer expanded access to the program to their residents. In Missouri, expansion would have meant an estimated 275,000 more people would have become eligible.

But in the spring, Missouri’s legislature refused to include funds for the expansion in the state budget, and in May, Gov. Mike Parsons declined to implement the unfunded program.

Finally, in August, a...