A Brief History of the Missouri Single Payer Bill and MOSP

In 1989, a group of state representatives and other interested parties, including the MO Hospital Association, traveled to Canada to study their single payer universal health system called "medicare" with a lower case "m", because it "belongs to the people". Afterward, Representative Gail Chatfield introduced our state single payer bill, The Missouri Universal Health Assurance Act, which included principles of the Canadian system, in 1990. The original bill had numerous cosponsors including one Republican. The bill was debated on the House floor and nearly passed. Since then, the bill has often been denied a hearing, much less a full debate.

In 2002 the MOSP legislative committee, including a doctor, a nurse, an ethicist, a labor representative, and a small business owner, revised the bill. The updated bill eliminated HMO’s, capitation, and other vehicles for profiteering or privatization. It included dental services, educational loans for health care providers, and a fair, progressive income tax. In 2008 the senate bill was passed out of committee, but was denied a floor debate.

Missourians for Single Payer Health Care or “MOSP” was founded in 1990 after the state bill was introduced. MOSP is an all-volunteer non-partisan statewide organization committed to education for and passage of a universal, single payer health bill. When Marilyn Clement formed the national single payer organization Campaign for a National Health Program NOW in 2004, later renamed Healthcare NOW, MOSP joined as an organizational member and expanded its focus to also work for passage of federal legislation. MOSP works for universal single payer health care and nothing else.