Tagged: Affordable Care Act

Signatures delivered to Brownback in support of Medicaid expansion; Wichita Senator says we must keep the sales tax rate as is; Study says medical costs could increase after overhaul.

Group Delivers 2,700 Signatures Asking Brownback To Expand Medicaid

Supporters of expanding Medicaid delivered nearly 3,000 signatures to Gov. Sam Brownback's office Wednesday, asking him to support an expansion of the state's Medicaid program.

Hospitals in Kansas could lose some federal money if the state doesn't expand Medicaid services under the federal health care law. A lawmaker helping to draft the budget says the state needs to consider assisting those hospitals.

Many hospitals receive payments to help them cover the cost of medical care for the uninsured; they are known as disproportionate shared hospital payments. As the federal health care law continues, the focus will move to funding more Medicaid services, meaning the current disproportionate share funds could be reduced or completely eliminated. 

The issue of Medicaid expansion is beginning to simmer at the Kansas Statehouse. Competing cost estimates and a report about the economic benefits of expansion are bringing renewed attention to the issue and the decisions facing Gov. Sam Brownback.

The issue of Medicaid expansion is heating up all over the country.

Wednesday, Florida's Rick Scott joined a growing list of Republican governors who agree to the expansion. Like Brownback, many of them are opponents of the federal health reform law.

The new online health insurance marketplace going into effect next year in Kansas as part of the Affordable Care Act will be operated by federal, not state, officials.

That is because Gov. Sam Brownback refused to have any role in implementing what he calls "Obamacare."

Last Friday was the final deadline for states to notify federal officials of their interest in creating a federal-state partnership model for the new health insurance exchange. The deadline came and went with no action by Gov. Brownback.