Feds wants Kansas to expand Medicaid

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is trying to use treatment for drug abuse and mental health as a new point of persuasion for Medicaid expansion.

The department released a report Monday about expansion’s potential to improve the overall economies of states that expanded and increase access to behavioral health treatment services.

Medicaid is a health insurance program paid for with state and federal money.

The Affordable Care Act was passed with the thought that states would broaden Medicaid eligibility. A Supreme Court decision later allowed each state to decide whether or not to expand.

Kansas is one of 20 states that has not expanded.

“The facts are clear,” said Vikki Wachino, director of the Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services, said during a conference call. “The consequence of a state’s decision to reject Medicaid expansion has major implications of the health of their citizens.”

She also highlighted wider economic benefits to expansion – less uncompensated care incurred by hospitals, increased job growth and greater revenue growth.

Those points have been previously iterated in Kansas, mostly from the Kansas Hospital Association, which proposed an expansion plan in February.

But Gov. Sam Brownback and other legislators have questioned expansion’s cost to the state general fund.

But Richard Frank, assistant secretary for planning and evaluation for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says the costs make up for themselves.

“But there’s huge economic gains, huge human gains, as a result from expanding,” Frank said during a conference call with reporters.

Kansas has had ongoing problems with access to inpatient substance abuse treatment. Drug abusers often wait months before receiving treatment, and it’s reportedly rare to receive a full 30 days of inpatient rehab.

The state also has said it does not know how many people are currently waiting for state-funded treatment.

Frank said states that expand Medicaid have more money for treatment and more resources because of federal Medicaid dollars.

He also talked about improved productivity of a state’s residents when they have better access to behavioral health services.

“If these mental illnesses are left untreated, they become more debilitating overtime,” he said.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Feds wants Kansas to expand Medicaid."