Good luck with Medicaid expansion
The Kansas Hospital Association and other groups are considering new approaches to convince Gov. Sam Brownback and state lawmakers to expand Medicaid. Good luck with that.
For the past three years, KHA and others have tried economic arguments (a 2014 study estimated that expansion could increase federal funding by $2.2 billion between 2016 and 2020 and result in more than 3,700 new jobs), business arguments (rural hospitals may not survive without expansion), political arguments (a poll last April showed 69 percent public support for expansion) and moral arguments (about 150,000 low-income Kansans could receive needed health insurance).
KHA also appealed to the conservative principles of many lawmakers. It produced a concept paper for expansion that included a premium-support program for purchasing private insurance, options for high-deductible plans and health savings accounts, and incentives for healthy behaviors and participation in job searches and training.
The new strategy likely will focus on connecting lawmakers to people in their districts struggling to get the care that they need, the Kansas Health Institute News Service reported.
But it is unlikely to fare any better than the previous efforts.
Brownback initially indicated that he was open to expansion but was concerned the federal government might not live up to its promise to cover nearly all the cost. He then said the state first needed to eliminate waiting lists for services for disabled Kansans – an important but unrelated issue.
Brownback and lawmakers now likely will latch onto a recent news report that enrollments grew more than projected in about a dozen states that expanded Medicaid. The increase is resulting in higher costs than expected – though expansion advocates argue that the states will save money in the long run.
The state’s budget problems do present a difficult hurdle for expansion. But even if the state were flush, Brownback and many lawmakers would find some other excuse.
They are ideologically opposed to expansion, and none of the good arguments and pleas for compassion is likely to change their made-up minds.
For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee
This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Good luck with Medicaid expansion."