The Big Budget Bill’s Impact on Missouri’s Health System: More Missouri Residents Uninsured, Higher Health Care Costs, and More Consequences of the Many Cuts to Care - Families USA Skip to Main Content
06.27.2025 / Press Release

The Big Budget Bill’s Impact on Missouri’s Health System: More Missouri Residents Uninsured, Higher Health Care Costs, and More Consequences of the Many Cuts to Care

New Families USA Analysis Details How Steep Cuts Will Hurt Missouri Residents

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – A new fact sheet from Families USA details how the pending budget bill, set to be voted on by the Senate in the next week or so, will harm Missouri’s health system, including cutting off coverage for at least 210,000 Missourians, making it harder for people to get and maintain coverage, and taking away crucial patient protections for children. The bill also drives up costs for those buying insurance through the Marketplace, skyrocketing premiums and increasing out-of-pocket costs while taking away crucial premium tax credits.

“The cuts to Medicaid and the ACA will have devastating and dramatic impacts on health coverage, care, and costs for American families, and in many ways especially in Missouri. The cuts will not just mean that tens of thousands of Missouri residents lose coverage, but federal cuts will force state budgets into crisis, forcing states to drastically scale back services, leading to closures of rural hospitals and community clinics,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA. “Senator Hawley must side with patients and health providers and plans to oppose this bill that harms access and affordability of health care for so many Missouri working families.”

“The Senate budget bill as proposed is a direct threat to Missouri’s families, communities, and long-term economic future. It fails the test of sound policy and abandons the values of fairness and opportunity that should define our state’s priorities,” said Amy Blouin, President & CEO of the Missouri Budget Project. “We urge Senator Hawley to reject this harmful bill and instead champion a budget that reflects the real needs of Missourians — one that invests in our health care. Missouri deserves better.”

The proposed cuts are in opposition with the voters when 82% of adults nationwide — including 67% of Republicans want Congress to maintain or increase Medicaid spending.

The Medicaid program, MO HealthNet, covers 1,268,000 children and adults, including:

  • 1 in 5 Missouri residents.
  • 573,000 children — 42% of all children in Missouri.
  • 237,000 seniors and people with disabilities.

Marketplace coverage, available for individuals and families who do not qualify for MO HealthNet but also do not have employer sponsored coverage, serves:

  • 417,000 Missouri residents.
  • 28,000 small business owners in Missouri and 47,000 self-employed Missouri residents.
  • About 95% of enrollees in the state who received an advanced premium tax credit to help them pay their premium.

Families USA, the longtime health consumer advocate, is organizing with groups in Missouri and across the nation to protect against care cuts that would force Americans to face increased costs and the loss of health coverage. The Families USA website has a plethora of materials on how its partners are working to defend Medicaid, and has facts sheets on the overall importance of Medicaid to people, the economy, and the health care system, how work reporting requirements would undermine access to Medicaid, and how cuts harm families and communities.