Quick Note: Missouri Obstructionist ACA Laws Struck Down by U.S. District Judge

In 2012, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon decided that his state would not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and would not set up its own health insurance marketplace, making it one of 17 red states where the federal government would have to step in to assist citizens signing up for health insurance.  

Last year, Missouri's Republican led legislature went even further, passing laws that were designed to put obstacles in the way of the federal government's exchange efforts.  These included requirements that federally trained insurance navigators also complete a 30 hour state insurance agent training course and pay a fee to be licensed by Missouri's insurance regulating board. They refused to allow federal workers to set up shop on any government property and would not permit ACA information to be displayed in government or social service offices.  Even that wasn't enough for Missouri Republicans.  They made it unlawful for any Missouri employee to offer "help or assistance of any kind" to anyone asking for information. Giving someone an ACA pamphlet or telling them the address of the ACA office was considered grounds for dismissal and prosecution. 

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith ruled that the obstacles Missouri had set in place were illegal.  In his ruling, Judge Smith said "It seems obvious these additional requirements obstruct the federal government's operation of the federally facilitated exchange;" and since Missouri decided not to set up its own exchange, it could not "impose additional requirements or limitations" on any exchange designated by federal law.  He added that forbidding social service offices from disseminating information to those who inquired put social service workers in an "untenable position" and restricted their constitutional rights to free speech.

Judge Smith's decision could have ramifications in other Republican led states like Ohio, Florida, Texas and Wisconsin where similar laws were passed requiring federal insurance navigators to be licensed by the state and setting limits on what navigators can do.

Missouri's attorneys say they will review the decision before deciding if they will appeal.

And so the voodoo doll of Republican obstructionism takes another stake to the heart.

I wonder how much money Republican states are spending to defend these laws-of-hindrance, laws which seem more and more untenable as time goes by.  And I wonder how that money could have been put to better use actually helping the people they claim to serve.