Thanks are again due to Combest for linking to a letter by state Rep. Doug Ervin Kearney in the Springfield News-Leader:

Less attention has been paid to the Missouri Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act (HB 818) designed to assist small businesses and individuals in purchasing health insurance through a number of innovations predicated on tax equity and portability of health insurance [...]

This bill, while getting little media attention at home, is gaining much interest nationally among other states looking for market-based solutions to assist the uninsured and uninsurable. Missouri is emerging as a leader in health care transformation.

While everybody loudly debates the midwife provision that got snuck in, few people notice all the good that the rest of the bill will do. Helping consumers take responsibility for their own health care is big news. Everybody should be celebrating this legislation — even those of us who aren’t practitioners of tocology.