Salina Journal: Healthcare providers support Medicaid expansion

By Jason Beets | May 15, 2019

Two area healthcare providers say hospitals and clinics would benefit from Medicaid expansion. The Kansas Legislature will undoubtedly reconsider Medicaid expansion next year, after supporters fell one vote short of overruling Senate Republican leadership’s decision to block debate of the measure earlier this month.

Officials from the Salina Family Healthcare Center and Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System support expanding Medicaid, while officials from Salina Regional Health Center haven’t taken a position on the policy.

Under the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010, states that choose to expand Medicaid will have 90 percent of the cost of that expansion paid by the federal government.

Kansas is one of only 14 states that hasn’t chosen to expand Medicaid. About 150,000 Kansans would receive health insurance if Kansas expanded Medicaid, according to the Kansas Hospital Association.

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