Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins said the 2026 Legislature would strive to slash $200 million from the state government’s budget and seek to reduce expenditures on the Medicaid program delivering health care to low-income adults and children.
Gov. Laura Kelly sent letters to Kansas’ congressional delegation urging the federal lawmakers to resist pressure to vote for Medicaid cuts that would deny health care to the most vulnerable people in the state.
Analysis of potential congressional cuts to Medicaid indicated Kansas’ loss of more than $3 billion over 10 years could shrink coverage for vulnerable populations, escalate family medical debt and raise the risk of hospital closures.
A forum Monday evening offered folks with personal insight into Medicaid the opportunity to speak to others with knowledge of how the national health program influenced quality of life.
Navigators help people enroll in Medicaid and insurance on the federal marketplace. Federal funding cuts by the Trump administration mean Kansas will have fewer navigators.
Kansas organizations advocating for sustained funding for Medicaid services said hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed federal budget cuts to the national health program can be deadly to vulnerable people with disabilities as well as seniors and children.
A Kansas House committee has been gathering testimony on a wide range of reform options for Kansans with disabilities. That includes a four-year plan endorsed by advocates to invest $13.6 million to help people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Before Kansas officials revealed they had ousted Aetna Better Health as one of the providers for the state’s $4 billion Medicaid program, they destroyed documents that Aetna believes would have helped the company appeal the decision.
Kansans are uninsured at a rate higher than the rest of the country for a third straight year, but the effects of Medicaid “unwinding” have yet to be seen, recent U.S. Census Bureau data shows.
KanCare, Kansas’ Medicaid program, will cover doula services for its pregnant beneficiaries beginning July 1. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the policy change aims to improve maternal health outcomes in Kansas.
