KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Low-income Missouri residents who now qualify for Medicaid under a voter-approved expansion will have to wait until July 2021 for the program to go into effect.

Missouri legislators and various state agencies are just starting to lay the groundwork to implement the new guidelines.

Nika Cotton, the owner of Soulcentricitea, a new tea and coffee shop at 1106 E. 30th St. in Kansas City, Missouri, is planning to sign up as soon as possible.

“So I have hot coffee, ice coffee, espresso. I have 54 different flavors of loose leaf tea,” Cotton said.

Along with tea and coffee, Cotton has nerves of steel. She opened her new business last month, in the heart of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“I’m thinking, ‘My dream does not know it’s a pandemic.’ It’s actually kind of a good opportunity to serve tea. Herbal tea especially… has a lot of really calming benefits for people,” Cotton said.

Before the Pandemic, she was a social worker, but when COVID-19 hit, she changed careers,

“I…



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