Kansas Committee Narrowly Tables Bill To Expand Medicaid, Likely Dooming The Effort
After three days of testimony, the House committee was prepared to vote when one member called for putting the bill aside until the legislature finds out how the state Supreme Court rules in a school case that could be expensive for the state.
The Associated Press:
Kansas House Committee Tables Medicaid Expansion
Kansas lawmakers tabled a bill Monday that would expand Medicaid, which could mean the bill is dead until next year. The House Health and Human Services Committee delayed a vote until April 3, after a deadline for bills to pass their chamber of origin. (Kite, 2/20)
Kansas City Star:
Medicaid Expansion Falls In Kansas House Panel, Likely Done For Year
Republicans and Democrats on the panel listened to three days of testimony on the proposal to expand coverage of KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. After debating the bill Monday afternoon, lawmakers were primed to vote on the legislation and consider moving it to the House floor for further discussion. That failed to happen after Rep. John Barker, an Abilene Republican, asked the panel to set the bill aside until April 3. Barker cited anxiety about the possible cost of an upcoming decision by the Kansas Supreme Court in a school finance case. (Woodall, 2/20)
Wichita (Kan.) Eagle:
‘It’s Dead’: Medicaid Expansion Tabled In Kansas Committee
Rep. John Barker, R-Abilene, asked to table the bill until April 3 or later to allow the Kansas Supreme Court more time to make its school finance ruling that could obligate the state to spend millions of dollars more on K-12 education. He called the impending ruling the “big elephant in the room.” “We could get a decision next week,” Barker said. “And then what are we going to do?” (Salazar, 2/20)
Topeka Capital Journal:
Kansas House Committee Kills Medicaid Expansion Proposal In 9-8 Vote
A new contingent of moderate Republican and Democratic lawmakers backing expansion had raised the hopes of supporters. Some believe expansion could pass the House if put up to a vote. But President Donald Trump’s White House victory and the ascendance of congressional Republicans determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act has scrambled the Medicaid expansion discussion in Kansas and other states. Expansion opponents argue it will soon be a thing of the past, while supporters say expansion would put Kansas in a better position if the federal government converts Medicaid into a block grant program. (Shorman, 2/20)
Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World:
Kansas House Panel Tables Medicaid Expansion Bill Over Objections Of Hospital Supporters
State Medicaid officials estimated the expansion would have cost the state about $52 million a year once fully implemented, and that it would bring in nearly $1 billion in federal health care money. Supporters of the expansion said that money could help save many small hospitals in the state that are struggling financially because the state hasn’t expanded Medicaid. (Hancock, 2/20)
KCUR:
House Committee Votes To Sideline KanCare Expansion Bill
Rep. Susan Concannon, a Beloit Republican, said the move to table deceived new legislators, who may not have understood they were killing the bill. “I’m just speechless because it was such an underhanded move,” she said. Kansas limits eligibility for Medicaid to children, pregnant women, people with severe disabilities and parents earning less than a third of the federal poverty line, or about $9,200 annually for a four-person family. (Wingerter, 2/20)
And in other Kansas news —
KCUR:
KU Economists: Medicaid Expansion May Have Reduced ‘Medical Divorces’
The Affordable Care Act has been credited – and blamed – for lots of things, but lowering the divorce rate generally hasn’t been one of them. Not until now, anyway. A paper co-authored by two KU economists suggests that states that expanded Medicaid saw fewer so-called medical divorces than states, like Kansas and Missouri, that didn’t expand Medicaid. How so? Used to be Medicaid had an asset limit. The program’s income eligibility requirements limited the maximum amount of assets and income individuals could possess. The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, did away with the asset requirement. (Margolies, 2/20)