By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A group of labor and civil rights leaders in St. Louis is calling on Governor Matt Blunt and the state legislature to extend health care to all Missourians.
The Service Employees International Union and the NAACP say Missouri should follow the lead of California and Massachusetts and offer health insurance everyone can afford.
The union's John Cross says that's something Missouri can do without increasing the size of government. "In the last two years we've seen a surplus in the budget, a surplus in revenue," Cross said Wednesday.
"We are asking the governor to put these resources together to provide health care for all Missourians."
Cross says the state could use its existing agencies to offer the service. But he did not offer specifics on how the plan would work.