A new report says Missouri's Medicaid costs could rise by 6.6 percent over 10 years if the state fully implements the federal health care law.
But the report also says almost half of that increase will occur even if Missouri does not expand Medicaid eligibility for adults.
The report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Urban Institute says Missouri can expect to spend an additional $1.2 billion from 2013 to 2022 as more people join the Medicaid rolls because of the federal health care law.
It estimates Missouri's Medicaid spending would rise by a total of $2.8 billion over that period if the state raised the income threshold for adults to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, as allowed under federal law. Republican state legislative leaders have opposed that change.
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