The head of a group pushing for Medicaid expansion in Kansas says his departure for a new job won’t hinder the advocacy effort.
With David Jordan at the helm, the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas came within a few votes last session of overriding Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill to broaden Medicaid eligibility.
Now, Jordan is preparing to take the top job at a Hutchinson-based health foundation. But he says that won’t stop the alliance from making another push to expand healthcare coverage to more than 100,000 low-income and mostly uninsured adults.
“The support’s there. The momentum’s there," Jordan says. "It’s well past time to do what is right for Kansans and expand KanCare.”
The federal government would shoulder 90 percent of the cost of expansion.
But with both Gov. Sam Brownback and Lt Gov. Jeff Colyer opposed to it, advocates would need two-thirds of the House and Senate to override another probable veto.
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Jim McLean is managing director of KMUW's Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio and KCUR covering health, education and politics in Kansas. Follow him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.
