New Kinder Whopper: "No One Has Really Disputed" My Scary Health Care Talking Points

In the middle of today's press conference about his intention to sue the federal government to block federal health care legislation, Lt. Governor Peter Kinder made the following claim:

The true cost to Missouri's taxpayers remains unknown and unknowable since we've been dealing with a moving target all this time. But no one has really disputed my earlier statement it would be easily a half a billion dollars.

This is... false.

In fact, at the moment Kinder made the statement, he was standing about 3 feet away from David Lieb, the Associated Press reporter who wrote the January story headlined, "Missouri Republicans hyping Medicaid expansion costs."

Kinder has repeatedly claimed that the federal legislation will cost Missouri $400-$450 million per year, based on calculations made last summer.  They were irrelevant long ago, but Kinder and his fellow Republicans have continued to use them anyway. Numerous media outlets have reported on this claim and the updated figures. 

• The Associated Press, 1/17/2010, Headline: "Missouri Republicans hyping Medicaid expansion costs"
• The Star, 1/14/2010: "Prime Buzz, however, requested and received a report from the department this afternoon showing estimates for the most recent version of the bill."
• The News-Leader, 1/8/2010: "Kinder's claim that the Medicaid expansion could cost Missouri taxpayers "as high as $450 million per year" is much higher than what Nixon's Department of Social Services claims the House or Senate bills would cost Missouri. DSS officials estimate the House version of Medicaid expansion would cost the state of Missouri $188 million more each year, while the Senate bill would cost state taxpayers an extra $91 million each year."
• The Beacon, 10/20/2009: "Scott Rowson, a spokesman for the Department of Social Services, said the more recently passed Senate Finance Committee version of the bill would cost the state around $91 million."
• And drawing from these sources and original reporting, Mr. Kinder's favorite progressive blog has disputed his claim here, here, here and here.

I suppose it's possible that Kinder is completely unaware that the Associated Press, News-Leader, Kansas City Star and The Beacon have all "disputed" his claim that the federal bill will cost "easily a half a billion dollars."  That seems unlikely. And if true, very troubling.

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More photos from today's stunt: