Trump should keep pressure on KanCare

Finally, after four years of neglect, mismanagement, and failure to adhere to federal statutes and regulations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a stinging rejection of Kansas’ request to extend its Medicaid managed-care program for another year (Jan. 20 Eagle).

The CMS report on KanCare represents an extraordinary statement of lack of faith in the competence of the Brownback administration to serve the most disabled and the poorest of its citizens. For families, the poor, the elderly and disabled, this development comes as no surprise and validates the misery so many in Kansas have had to endure the past four years.

CMS faults Kansas for failing to establish sufficient oversight of KanCare and the managed-care companies and for being indifferent to the suffering of families, who told endless stories of unfair denials and staggering silence to requests for assistance, clarification or appeals.

The response from the Brownback administration, as mouthed by spokesperson Angela de Rocha, is patently offensive, juvenile and representative of the worst instinct in our body politic. De Rocha, while acknowledging that the state has an obligation to respond to a corrective action plan demanded by CMS, labeled the federal government’s long overdue action on KanCare as “politically motivated, the last blow from the Obama administration.”

De Rocha’s mean-spirited response reflects an all too familiar rejection of responsibility by the Brownback administration to look inward and respond with care to the concerns that have been raised by hundreds of families and providers and by professional auditors and reviewers from the federal government.

For the new Trump administration, Kansas and KanCare will emerge as an early test of the manner in which the poor, elderly and the disabled will be treated during the next four years. Will Kansas failures in adhering to quality and oversight metrics set by CMS be given a pass by the new administration? Or will the state be required to reform its dismal performance as clearly articulated by the CMS report?

With every fiber of my being, I hope the Trump administration uses the Kansas experience as an example of poor administration to correct, not one to model.

This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 5:06 AM with the headline "Trump should keep pressure on KanCare."