Latest Poll Shows Strong, Growing Support for KanCare Expansion

A new poll shows that a growing majority of Kansans favor expanding KanCare to cover 150,000 low-income, working adults.

The statewide poll found that 62 percent of Kansas voters supported expanding KanCare (the state’s privatized Medicaid program), to cover adults earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level — which is $16,394 for an individual and $33,534 for a family of four.

Support for expansion increased to 76 percent when respondents were told that legislation introduced this year was “budget neutral” and would provide coverage only to U.S. citizens who helped pay for their care.

The poll of 500 likely voters was commissioned by the Kansas Hospital Association (KHA) and conducted in mid-February. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.

The first poll commissioned by KHA in 2013 showed 60 percent of the state’s residents would support expanding KanCare.

Similarly, two polls conducted independently by Ft. Hays State University (FHSU) each showed nearly two in three Kansans support KanCare expansion. A FHSU poll released in October 2015 showed respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” supported the expansion of KanCare, up from 58 percent found by FSU in its April 2015 poll. Those polls interviewed more than 1,200 Kansans and had margins of error of 3.9 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.

View the new poll results here.