Medicaid expansion

Kansas lawmakers have already forfeited a billion dollars in federal healthcare funding by not expanding Medicaid coverage. Guest Commentator Duane Goossen tells us that refusing to expand the program will continue to cost the state money and leave more than 100,000 Kansans without health insurance.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says Kansas could help 34,000 uninsured residents suffering from mental illness or substance abuse if the state would expand Medicaid under its KanCare program.

The Kansas Senate’s president removed the chairwoman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee over an attempt to force debate on a proposal to expand the state's Medicaid program.

Here's a summary of Kansas news headlines from the Associated Press, as compiled by KPR staff.

The Lenten season is here. For Christians, it's a time of fasting and sacrifice that ends with Easter. Commentator Bob Schremmer says Lent is also a good time to let go of "indifference." In this Lenten message, he calls upon the faithful to care for the poor and sick.

A new report claims that expanding Medicaid in Kansas would be budget neutral. The study says Medicaid expansion could even save the state money.

Two Kansas lawmakers who were recently kicked-off a health committee by Speaker of the House Ray Merrick are pushing back. They say they were removed from the committee because of their support for Medicaid expansion, but they say, their removal won't stop the debate over expanding the health insurance program for the poor.

Supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas held a forum where they tried to convince state lawmakers to examine plans in other conservative states where the health insurance program for the poor has been expanded.

More than 60 percent of Kansas residents polled think Governor Sam Brownback's income tax cuts have been a failure.

The issue of Medicaid expansion in Kansas hasn't gone away. If anything, it seems to be heating up again.