RICHMOND – Medicaid expansion began last week in Missouri. Healthcare for Missouri led the statewide campaign that resulted in voters passing Amendment 2 to force expansion. In 2012, former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon called on the General Assembly to expand Medicaid, but the Republican-dominated House and Senate ignored him. The public in August 2020 bypassed lawmakers to approve the amendment 53.25% to 46.75%. Healthcare for Missouri spokeswoman Joni Wickham declined to speculate on whether Missourians had died because of the lack of expansion during the past nine years. “It’s a safe assumption that a lot of people didn’t have access to the lifesaving health care they needed, for sure,” Wickham said. The coalition identified Amanda Reynolds, St. Louis, as a childhood cancer survivor who expects to benefit from Medicaid expansion. She worries about a recurrence of canceriin her abdomen, has felt a mass in her stomach, is too ill to work and cannot get needed scans without health…