Governor Laura Kelly today announced legislation to expand Medicaid (Kancare) and provide health insurance for 165,000 Kansans. The legislation also establishes a regulatory framework to make Kansas the 48th state to legalize medical marijuana.
“After nearly a year of challenges brought on by COVID-19, we need to use every tool at our disposal to protect the health of our workforce and our economy,” Governor Kelly said. “Getting 165,000 Kansans health care, injecting billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into our local economies, and protecting our rural hospitals will be critical to our recovery from the pandemic. By combining broadly popular, commonsense medical marijuana policy with our efforts to expand Medicaid, the revenue from the bill will pay for the expansion.”
This Medicaid Expansion bill includes the same components of the compromise legislation from last year with the following exceptions:
- The reinsurance program has been removed.
- The Medicaid Expansion Surcharge paid by Kansas hospitals to offset the state general fund costs of expanding Medicaid has been removed.
- In place of these two programs, a proposed medical marijuana bill has been inserted.
- This bill is modeled after Ohio’s framework and similar to the bill that has been proposed by House Republicans.
- The fiscal note of this portion of the bill should more than offset the state…
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Governor Laura Kelly today announced legislation to expand Medicaid (Kancare) and provide health insurance for 165,000 Kansans. The legislation also establishes a regulatory framework to make Kansas the 48th state to legalize medical marijuana.
“After nearly a year of challenges brought on by COVID-19, we need to use every tool at our disposal to protect the health of our workforce and our economy,” Governor Kelly said. “Getting 165,000 Kansans health care, injecting billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into our local economies, and protecting our rural hospitals will be critical to our recovery from the pandemic. By combining broadly popular, commonsense medical marijuana policy with our efforts to expand Medicaid, the revenue from the bill will pay for the expansion.”
This Medicaid Expansion bill includes the same components of the compromise legislation from last year with the following exceptions:
- The reinsurance program has been removed.
- The Medicaid Expansion Surcharge paid by Kansas hospitals to offset the state general fund costs of expanding Medicaid has been removed.
- In place of these two programs, a proposed medical marijuana bill has been inserted.
- This bill is modeled after Ohio’s framework and similar to the bill that has been proposed by House Republicans.
- The fiscal note of this portion of the bill should more than offset the state…