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.
Brownback has made it clear that he has concerns about expanding Medicaid to more than 200,000 additional low-income, elderly and disabled Kansans. But a report out this week is putting the issue in a new context.
The Kansas Hospitals Association said expansion would boost federal Medicaid spending in the state by $3 billion and create 4,000 new jobs.
Despite that, some Republican lawmakers are working to pass a resolution urging the governor to say no to expansion. A House committee is expected to hold a hearing soon.