GOP leaders reject Kansas governor's proposal for Medicaid expansion

TOPEKA — GOP leadership in the Legislature rejected Gov. Laura Kelly’s latest proposal for Medicaid expansion, questioning whether federal regulators would allow a work requirement and calling for alternate reforms without offering their own plan.

Their resistance to Medicaid expansion, which would benefit an estimated 150,000 Kansans with low incomes, stands in contrast to support for the program from rank-and-file Republican lawmakers and a majority of Republican voters.

Kelly attempted to address concerns raised by opponents in the past by including a work requirement in her plan, offsetting the state’s cost by taxing the Medicaid funding hospitals receive, allowing individuals to stay on private insurance but receive assistance from the state, and clarifying that abortion services are only covered in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of a mother.

“Cloaked in a fake work requirement and a tax scheme, the governor’s proposal to expand the welfare state creates more problems than it solves,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican. “It is poor public policy to push able-bodied adults off of private insurance and onto a government program that was intended for the truly vulnerable.”

Read more: https://kansasreflector.com/2023/12/15/gop-leaders-reject-kansas-governors-proposal-for-medicaid-expansion/