Tagged: Medicaid

More than 1,000 advocates for the developmentally disabled are rallying at the Kansas Statehouse to urge officials to maintain the current system for providing services.

Advocates for Kansans with disabilities are urging legislators to adopt Gov. Sam Brownback's proposal to reduce the number of people on the waiting list for Medicaid services.

Currently, about 5,000 Kansans with developmental and physical disabilities are on the list. Brownback wants to spend $18 million to provide services to approximately 600 of them.

Advocates are using a video to help make their case to lawmakers. It features parents of disabled Kansans and some of the caseworkers who are trying to help them gain access to services.

Starting next year, states will be able to take part in a sweeping expansion of the health care program Medicaid, and the federal government will pick up most of the cost. But it's still not clear if that expansion will take place in Kansas, where the state's Medicaid program is known as KanCare. 

As Lawmakers and Gov. Sam Brownback consider the expansion, some Kansans are trying to make their voices heard.

THE PLIGHT OF MARI WHITE

Supporters of expanding Medicaid delivered nearly 3,000 signatures to Gov. Sam Brownback's office Wednesday, asking him to support an expansion of the state's Medicaid program.

Anna Lambertson is with a coalition of organizations pushing for Medicaid expansion. She spoke during a rally at the Statehouse.

“We could bring more health care related jobs to Kansas, and improve the health of our workforce," she said. "Healthy workers, as I’m sure you know already, mean a productive workforce. That’s good for our employers and for our state."