Chanute hospital CEO: Kansas needs Medicaid expansion, not more donation pickle jars

Chanute hospital administrator Dennis Franks bore witness to consequences of crushing poverty and serious illness among uninsured patients in southeast Kansas.

“They put big jars out at gas stations asking for help,” Franks told state legislators. “If you need a lung transplant, you put a pickle jar out and maybe, if you’re lucky, you might get your transplant.”

Questions about access to affordable, quality health care in rural areas of the state drew considerable attention this week during two days of meetings by a special Kansas Senate committee exploring ideas for securing health insurance for low-income Kansans through expansion of Medicaid eligibility or adjustment of the private insurance marketplace. The committee agreed to forward a bill aimed at both goals to the 2020 Legislature.

Franks, chief executive officer of Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center, said the facility absorbed $6 million annually in charity or uncompensated health care costs. He said Neosho County has a poverty rate of 20.7%, compared to a state average of 12.8%. People worked multiple jobs in that part of southeast Kansas, he said, but many still couldn’t afford health insurance.

Read more: https://www.cjonline.com/news/20191025/chanute-hospital-ceo-kansas-needs-medicaid-expansion-not-more-donation-pickle-jars
(Topeka Capital-Journal)