150,000 Kansans waiting 10 years for health care is too much, says Kansas foundation | Commentary

We like winning. The three of us have won in athletics, business and civic life.

Together, we guide the Kansas Health Foundation. We are all about winning here, too. We want Kansas to be ranked No. 1 in health. Right now, Kansas is 31st and has been declining since the 1990s, when we were among the top 10.

To lead the nation in health, or even just to stop our slide, our state and communities must solve problems faster and more effectively.

An example of what not to do is our almost decade-long stalemate about creating affordable health insurance options for hardworking Kansans.

Kansas is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. Here’s a brief recap in case you need it:

The federal government provides health insurance subsidies for people who make over 100% of the federal poverty level ($24,860 per year for a family of three).

Medicaid is the health insurance for parents who earn less than 38% of poverty income ($9,447 per year for a family of three).

Empty nesters and adults without children don’t qualify for Medicaid unless they are pregnant or have a disability.

See the problem?

There are real people in this gap — people who make too much to get Medicaid but too little to get the subsidy. Approximately 150,000 Kansans are in that group.

They are the working poor. They are fellow Kansans, our neighbors, and they deserve affordable health care coverage.

Medicaid expansion is a good strategy to close the gap. It builds on an existing program and lets the federal government pay 90% of the solution.

Are there other strategies that could close that gap? Perhaps, but opponents to Medicaid expansion don’t seem to have one, and certainly not one that only has Kansas paying 10% of the cost.

Even peer states like Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma have realized expanding Medicaid makes sense.

Surveys show most Kansans want Medicaid expanded. It appears majorities of the Kansas House and Kansas Senate would vote yes. Gov. Laura Kelly is a staunch expansion supporter. What gives?

Legislative leadership has been unwilling to allow expansion to come to the floor for a full debate and vote.

We appreciate the governor’s renewed push to solve the uninsured gap. We recognize the governor, House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson will need to find common ground, and the resulting policy will require everyone to compromise. The sooner the better.

This specific coverage gap — between those who make too much for Medicaid but not enough for a subsidy from the federal government — is unfair and senseless. Medicaid expansion is the obvious, smart solution. Let’s get it done, and then move on to solving other challenges.

For example, Hawkins speaks eloquently about the need to grow our population. Without growth, everything the state pays for — schools, health care, roads, public health, the Highway Patrol — will suffer.

There simply won’t be enough taxpayers to continue paying for the level of service to which we’ve become accustomed.

Kansas will not lead the nation in health if our population continues to stagnate. We look forward to working with Hawkins on innovative ways to attract people to Kansas.

Let’s get focused on that problem and put the working poor health insurance gap behind us. Kansas can win. We can lead the nation in health. But not if we take another 10 years on a single debate.

This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 4:56 AM.