Missouri voters approved the Medicaid expansion amendment on Tuesday, providing a path to health coverage for more than 200,000 residents.
The decision to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act could extend health coverage to as many as 217,000 low-income people.
The amendment garnered support from 53 percent of voters with 3,545 of 3,575 precincts reporting preliminary results Tuesday night.
The state’s existing Medicaid program doesn’t extend benefits to most adults who don’t have children and has one of the nation’s lowest-income eligibility thresholds for parents.
The ballot proposal extends coverage to adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which comes to just under $18,000 for an individual and about $30,000 for a family of three.
