Medicaid effort in Kansas receives a boost
Failures of GOP in Congress add legislative traction
TOPEKA, Kan. — Legislators and advocates in Kansas pushing to expand the state’s health coverage for the poor to thousands of adults are buoyed by the failure of Republicans in Washington to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
The GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature was more receptive this year to expanding the state’s Medicaid program, thanks to elections last year that put more moderates and liberals in office. The state Senate was debating a bill Monday and could send it to conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback this week.
Widespread expansion
Obama’s Affordable Care Act encouraged states to increase the number of people eligible for Medicaid by promising to pay most of the costs. Some states where Republicans hold power had been reluctant to do so, but 31 states, including some led by GOP governors, have expanded Medicaid. Other states pursuing expansion include Maine, North Carolina and Virginia.
The effort in Kansas could prove largely symbolic because Republican legislators remain deeply divided and Brownback is a critic of health care policies championed by Obama, a Democrat. Yet supporters have scored a significant gain by getting a bill so close to passage. Uncertainty about what Congress would do represented a major obstacle.
“That was the most reasonable argument they had against it, and it’s gone,” said Davis Hammet, the president of the progressive Kansas coalition Loud Light, which supports expanding Medicaid.
Kansas’ Medicaid program covers about 377,000 poor, disabled and elderly residents, but poor adults under 65 who aren’t disabled and don’t have children aren’t eligible. The bill before the state Senate would expand coverage to up to 180,000 of those adults. It passed the House with a bipartisan majority last month.
Some requirements
The bill makes some concessions to critics. It would require the state to refer new Medicaid participants who aren’t working to job-training programs, and adults must live in Kansas for at least a year to be eligible for the expanded coverage.
Brownback has stopped short of saying he would veto the measure, but in a letter with other GOP governors to congressional leaders last week, he said expanding Medicaid under Obama’s policies moved the program away from its “core mission” of helping the truly vulnerable.
In other states looking at Medicaid expansions, Democratic governors in North Carolina and Virginia are pursuing plans despite opposition from their Republican legislatures. In Maine, a ballot initiative will put the issue to voters in November.
Kansas lawmakers have faced pressure from hospitals and advocates for the poor. Voters last year ousted two dozen of Brownback’s conservative allies from the Legislature, giving Democrats and GOP moderates the clout to at least force a debate.