Groups line capitol steps with paper lanterns in Medicaid protest
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Groups line capitol steps with paper lanterns in Medicaid protest

Date: May 16, 2013
By: Wes Duplantier
State Capitol Bureau

Intro: 
As lawmakers worked into the evening hours Thursday, thousands of white paper bags lined the south steps of the Capitol building.
RunTime:  0:50
OutCue:  SOC

Hundreds of bags line the steps of Missouri's Capitol as a protest on Medicaid

Wrap: Those bags weren't trash. They were a protest.

Several groups that support an expansion of Missouri's Medicaid system as part of the federal health care law set up about 1,500 bags.

The leader of one group, Progress Missouri Executive Director Sean Nicholson, says the bags were part of a vigil for people who will die without Medicaid coverage this year.  

Actuality:  CAPBAGS.WAV
Run Time:  00:11
Description: "As the legislature is coming to a close, we want to demonstrate our frustration with the legislature's inaction on Medicaid expansion and also memorialize, in an interesting way, the lives that could saved by expansion."

The Republican-controlled legislature repeatedly voted down proposals to expand Medicaid, saying it would cause Missouri's health care spending to skyrocket.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Wes Duplantier. Newsradio 1120. KMOX.