Senators Questions Officials On Gov’s Medicaid Plan

Tue, January 17, 2012

Kansas Public Radio / Stephen Koranda

Members of a Senate committee Tuesday questioned officials on Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to cut costs in the Kansas Medicaid system.

The governor’s plan would privatize the program. Medicaid recipients would be put in managed care programs run by health care companies.

Senator Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, pointed out that Oklahoma and Connecticut had tried managed care plans, but both later went back to state-run programs.

“Well, I think what they found is that they didn’t recognize the savings they had anticipated,” says Kelly. “And that they actually after much deliberation decided that probably they could do it better themselves.”

Kelly says she believes the Medicaid program does need reforms, but she isn’t convinced privatization is the way to do it.

Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer told the committee that the only other ways to save money would be cutting people from the Medicaid rolls or reducing payments to doctors. He says the state wants to avoid either of those options.