The democratic Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas and top republican lawmaker have outlined a new proposal for expanding the state’s Medicaid program. The deal between Governor Kelly and Senate majority leader Jim Denning announced this morning would give Kelly the straightforward expansion of state health coverage that she has promoted and covered up to 150,000 additional people.
Denning would get a version of a program that he has proposed for driving down private health insurance premiums to keep people from dropping existing private plans for Medicaid. The proposal includes an annual hospital Medicaid expansion support surcharge of up to $35 million, which has been endorsed by the Kansas Hospital Association, a robust work referral program that promotes self-reliance for non-working Medicaid recipients and creates an advisory committee within the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to support rural hospitals in assessing viability and identifying new delivering models to improve the health of rural communities.
