Tag: FY 2025 budget

House Republicans and Democrats agree: FRA must pass

      One thing Republicans and Democrats in the Missouri House agree on is that the legislature must renew Federal Reimbursement Allowance (FRA) legislation this year, or a massive hole will be blown out of the state’s operating budget.

House Speaker Dean Plocher and Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade agree the legislature must pass an FRA extension this year. (Photos: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      The FRA has been passed 17 times since 1992.  It is a tax paid by Medicaid providers in Missouri which the federal government more than matches in paying it back to the state.  That helps to cover the MO HealthNet program, and additional allowances also cover nursing facilities, pharmacy costs, and ambulance services.

      House Speaker Dean Plocher (R-St. Louis) said failing to renew the FRA this year “would result in an almost 3.5 to 4-billion dollar hit to our annual state budget.  I ask you [to join me] in passing the FRA because we simply cannot let Missourians down.”

      House Democrat leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) agreed, “If we do not pass the FRA we will be out so much money, and where is that money going to come from?  Public education, general revenue, and so when we have the conversation about the FRA it’s not just about making our Medicaid program solvent, it’s about making sure that we are funding all of the things necessary.”

      For many years legislators described FRA renewals as non-controversial, but Quade pointed out that was not the case in 2021.

      “It is deeply concerning.  The last time the FRA was up we weren’t able to get it done [during the regular session].  We had to go to a special session,” Quade said during a media conference on the opening day of the 2024 session.

      Plocher, asked during the Republicans’ media conference about the importance of FRA renewal, responded with his own question, “How vital is 3.5 to 4-billion dollars on a $50-billion budget?  If we don’t get it passed I don’t think our budget can absorb a 3.5 to 4-billion dollar hit.  I think it’s important.  We passed it a couple of years ago.  I look forward to tackling that issue now, but I don’t think we can’t afford not to pass it.”

      The current FRA expires at the end of September.