Missouri's cut-backs to Medicaid more than three years ago added strains to health centers and hospitals across the state.

Gov. Jay Nixon is shifting his hopes for expanding government health care to the Senate after the House passed a budget containing no money for it.

The votes approving the 13 bills were expected following preliminary approvals and nearly 12 hours of debate going late into the evening Wednesday.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama's nominee for health and human services secretary, says keeping the status quo on health care overhaul is "unacceptable and unsustainable."

Reform of the U.S. health care system is vital this year because of growing costs and worsening care, the Health and Human Services Department said in a report on Monday.

Recent movement on Capitol Hill and by major health care players suggests that consensus is growing for action this year, but deep rifts remain over how to pay for expanded coverage.

The latest news is available at
www.CoverMissouri.org

As the worsening economy leads to increasing job losses and more Americans are forced to go without health insurance, FRONTLINE travels the country examining the nation’s broken health care system and explores the need for a fundamental reform.

The program, Sick in America, examines the private insurance system, which fails to cover 46 million Americans and leaves millions more underinsured and at risk of bankruptcy. As coverage is becoming more expensive and less comprehensive, Sick in America underscores that available, affordable, adequate insurance is becoming hard to find.

Sick in America, airs tonight, Tuesday, March 31, 2009, at 8:00 or 9:00 P.M. CDT on PBS (check local listings).

Preview Sick Around America