JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon plans to announce his support for a major health care initiative.

An email obtained by The Associated Press shows Nixon is planning news conferences Thursday at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Barnes Jewish Center in St. Louis and Jordan Valley Community Health Center in Springfield.

He will be joined at some of the stops by officials from the Missouri Hospital Association and the Missouri Primary Care Association. Both groups are part of a new coalition urging Missouri to expand Medicaid eligibility as called for by President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Nixon campaigned on expanding Medicaid when he ran for governor in 2008, but he was noncommittal prior to this year’s election on whether Missouri should embrace the Medicaid expansion under the new federal law.

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