Nixon vetoes Medicaid fees

Governor Jay Nixon has turned down a bill that would allow Missouri doctors to charge Medicaid patients fees for missing appointments without notice.

Nixon vetoed Senate Bill 608 Tuesday, claiming it, “would needlessly punish our state’s most vulnerable citizens without improving access to care.”

The measure was sent to Nixon in May. It said Medicaid providers could have charged patients for missing appointments if they didn’t give 24-hour notice.

The fees would have cost $5 for the second missed appointment, $10 for the third and $20 for the fourth and each following appointment. Providers would have been obligated to waive fees due to inclement weather.

In his statement on the veto, Nixon said Missouri has turned down billions of dollars in federal funding because of the Missouri’s legislature’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage.

The statement ended by saying, “Gouging the poor while continuing to send our tax dollars to other states is not reforming our Medicaid system.”