‘Obamacare/Expansion will soon be dead,’ Lt. Gov. Colyer tweets

Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer declared that Medicaid expansion would soon be dead in a cryptic social media post late Thursday afternoon.

Colyer, who has taken a lead on health care policy for Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration, announced on Twitter that the state had extended contracts for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid system, through 2017 and that the state would put new contracts up for bid in late 2017.

Colyer, who is leading a task force intended to increase access to health care in rural Kansas, also weighed in on Medicaid expansion, something which is possible through the Affordable Care Act.

“Obamacare/Expansion will soon be dead,” Colyer said in the tweet. “Time will bring clarity from D.C.”

Colyer expanded on the meaning of his tweet in an e-mail.

“The American voters sent a clear message supporting the repeal of Obamacare,” Colyer said. “President elect Trump and Republicans in Congress have signaled that there are major changes in the future of the Medicaid program. It is only prudent to wait for clarity from Washington before making any changes to KanCare.”

Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, the ranking Democrat on the Kansas Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, said it was expected that the state would wait to renegotiate the KanCare contracts because of the uncertainty surrounding Medicaid.

Congressional Republican leaders have floated the idea of shifting to block grants for the program, which provides medical coverage to low-income and disabled people.

Kelly said she initially thought that Colyer’s tweet was “his way of poking (President) Obama in the eye” but that she later interpreted as a warning to lawmakers to not “bother trying to get Medicaid expanded because it’s not going to happen.”

Many Democrats and moderate Republicans have called for the state to expand the program to offer coverage to an additional 150,000 Kansans. Kelly called Colyer’s comment inappropriate.

“First of all, he is not the governor. He can’t veto anything,” Kelly said. “I think it’s very inappropriate for him to do. I also think it’s very unwise. He’s supposedly reaching out to all of these lawmakers in anticipation of becoming governor, so why would you start attacking and putting a stake in the ground now rather than working with folks?”

Denise Cyzman, executive director for the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, said the long-term future of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act are uncertain with the new Congress, but that shouldn’t deter the state from expanding Medicaid now.

She said it’s possible that if Congress shifts to block grants, it will still give the full funding to states that have already expanded and that if Kansas does not expand before then, it could be permanently missing out on the increased federal aid.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 5:53 PM with the headline "‘Obamacare/Expansion will soon be dead,’ Lt. Gov. Colyer tweets."