Greitens OKs $700M Budget Hike, Mainly for Medicaid

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens has approved an additional $700 million of spending this year.

Greitens signed the supplemental budget bill Thursday.

The measure adds roughly $705 million in spending authority to this fiscal year’s $27.7 billion budget. The fiscal year ends in June.

It mostly covers funding for higher-than-expected costs in the Medicaid health care program for low-income residents. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Brown has said Medicaid costs make up about $622 million of the increase.

Most of the money is federal spending. State general revenues account for only $162 million of the increased spending, but that’s more than what lawmakers initially expected to spend on the mid-year budget adjustment.