Is An Opportunity To Help Medically Underserved About To Be Missed?

As the last week of the Missouri Legislature’s regular session groans to a close, time is running out for dozens of bills to get a final up or down vote in the chambers. The Volunteer Health Services Act is one of those bills. Last week, I wrote about what a wonderful opportunity the Missouri House and Senate had to reform the licensing laws regarding volunteer medical missions in Missouri, allowing medical professionals in good standing and properly licensed in other states to provide free services to Missouri’s neediest. (I had also talked about the idea before that.) Requiring only a concurrence in the House to a lightly-amended Senate version, the House instead rejected the bill and a committee meeting was requested of the Senate to work out the differences. Whether that meeting will happen, nobody really knows.

Because the session ends tomorrow, the margin for error here is narrow.

I truly hope that the legislation is revisited and final, unambiguous judgment is rendered before the session closes. This is one of those bills that could help a lot of Missourians, not hurt them, who would otherwise go without medical assistance or would have to turn to the government for help.

There are a number of bills in the waning hours of the session that deserve attention as the minutes tick down. This is one of them.