16 March 2023
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) – Many people gathered at the Kansas Statehouse on Wednesday, calling for lawmakers to expand KanCare. It is the program in Kansas that administers Medicaid in the state.
The Alliance for a Healthy Kansas hosted the rally. The alliance is a coalition of more than 125 organizations and leaders across the state supporting KanCare expansion.
Expanding Medicaid has been one of Gov. Laura Kelly’s priorities.
“A select few in the legislature continue to block expansion going against the wants and needs of their own constituents,” Kelly said.
Several from Wichita took a bus to Topeka to attend the rally, including former Rep. Chuck Schmidt, D-Wichita, who supports expansion.
“We’ve lost about $6 billion that we could have had in Kansas, and not only does it provide health care for 150,000 people, but that also provides jobs. Those are well-paying health care jobs that hospitals and health care organizations would be creating if they had the money to do that and to take care of these people.”
Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said in a tweet in January that “if Medicaid is expanded, Kansas would see 328,000 able-bodied adults enrolled at a state-only cost of $13 billion over the next 10 years.” Hawkins, on March 6, retweeted a link to a Foundation for Government Accountability report on hospital closings under Medicaid expansion.
A Fort Hays State University survey last year showed more than seven in 10 Kansas voters support expanding Medicaid.