Month: February 2017

KCKCC working with local organizations to offer free tax preparation

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College is working with NextStep Kc and the United Way of Greater Kansas City to provide free federal and state income tax preparation for qualified individuals.

The service, which starts Feb. 1, is available to taxpayers with incomes of less than $54,000. Those who qualify should go to Room 3632 in the Flint Building on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave. at the following times:

• 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays (with the exception of March 15)
• 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays (with the exception of March 18)
• 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays (during February and on April 15 only)

The preparation is a joint venture between students in KCKCC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and NextStep KC., a community-based non-profit that works to provide affordable financial services to low and moderate income families.

Tax assistance is on a first-come, first-served basis. Lines form in advance, so please arrive early, as spots will likely be full as soon as the assistance time opens. Please do not email or call the location. Walk-in clients only.

Taxpayers need to bring:

• Photo identification for themselves and their spouse
• Social Security cards or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers for everyone in the home, including dependents
• Last year’s income tax return
• All income documentation such as W-2s, 1099s, 1098s, etc.
• Daycare federal ID number
• College tuition documentation
• Student loan interest documentation
• Mortgage interest
• Property taxes
• Charitable contributions
• Health Documentations
• If elderly or disabled, please bring paid property tax or rent documentation as well
• Bank account and routing number for direct deposit. Refunds are available faster if clients use direct deposit.

The free tax preparation service is only available for federal returns as well as Kansas and Missouri state returns. It is not available for Schedule E (rental or royalty income), Schedule F (farm income) or estate and trust returns. Only 2016 returns will be prepared in February. Any returns 2013 through 2015 will be prepared in March and April.

For more information, call 913-288-7555. Information on additional tax preparation sites is available by calling the United Way’s 2-1-1 line.

Wyandotte woman organizes metro-wide event to send love to newcomers

Hannah Johnson, of Wyandotte County, organized the event to welcome newcomers to the metro area. (Photo copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)

by Rebecca Tombaugh
Reporting artist

Dixie cups. With hearts. Chatter. Kids.

A child’s voice is heard.

“It’s mine!”

Boxes of crayons.

Black sharpies.

Three little girls. One looks over the shoulder of another coloring on a postcard. She holds it up to show to the two girls on each side.

They huddle over the postcard.

Round tables. Metal chairs.

A young woman with a purple jacket wearing a backpack sits down to write at a table. At another table, a woman sits her baby on the table top. At another table is a man with a beard wearing a khaki hat. The string of his hat hangs loose under his chin. He stops writing. He holds his pen up in mid-air. His eyes glance toward the wall. He tips his head and starts writing on his postcard.

“Man with Khaki Hat” (Art copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)

A toddler stumbles along the back wall crying all the while, an American flag hangs perfectly still in the corner not making a sound.

It’s Saturday morning, and the fifth floor of the Kansas City Public Library, 14 W. 10th St., in Kansas City, Mo., is full of children, strollers, men and women, young and old, families, babies and backpacks — all here for “To Immigrants with Love Open House Valentine Event.”

“People, Crayons, Round Tables and an American Flag.” (Art copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)

Hannah Johnson, of Wyandotte County, is with Americorps Vista. She organized the event.

“I’ve been really happy,” she says. “There were people lined up before we opened up.”

In the main room everybody is writing on postcards and kids are coloring valentines that will find their way immigrants and refugees in the metro.

A man in the room walks up to a giant valentine box.

“Do these cards go in here?” asks the man.

“Yeah,” says Nathan Hernandez with a big smile. He is a volunteer at the event. He is part of the local group “Resistance KC.”

“We promote love and acceptance of all people,” he says.

Nathan Hernandez volunteered to show people where to go at what he called a “positive protest.” (Photo copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)

Hernandez says the group provides volunteers for activist events. He calls this a “positive protest.”

He says the group formed after the election.

“It’s important because people are important, and people’s rights are important,” he says.
More people get off the elevator and walk toward Hernandez, who gestures to the tables in the main room.

“In the middle of the tables there are crayons…,” he says.

The elevator doors open and more people approach.

“Hey guys!” says Hernandez. “Are you here to color postcards?”

In the wide hallway, everybody lines up to take a selfie with their valentines to be sent along with their valentines.

“3 Little Girls.” (Art copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)

The three little girls, along with their parents, hold their valentines with both hands and pose for their selfie to send with their valentines. The photographer gives instructions. The shortest girl crosses her feet at the ankles.

“Smile…”

The little girls freeze in place.

“One more…”

The girls giggle.

Nearby, Julie Robinson watches the people passing by. Robinson is the refugee and immigrant services outreach manager for the library.

“This is the largest event we’ve done,” she says.

So many showed up they may run out of cards, said Julie Robinson, refugee and immigrant services outreach manager at the Kansas City Public Library. (Photo copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)

Robinson says they printed 1,000 cards and were down to about 200 after the first hour or so.

“It’s an awesome thing,” she says.

Robinson says this event is to show the people that are coming that Kansas City really welcomes and appreciates them coming here.

“Moving to a new country is hard,” says Robinson. “We want to be their neighbors.”

And, she says welcoming newcomers doesn’t have to be a one-time event, but can be a daily occurrence.

“Smile at people whether you know them or not just so they feel welcome,” she says.

The author of this article wrote a postcard to immigrants in Kansas City. (Photo copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh)


Rebecca Tombaugh is a reporting artist in the Kansas City area. She is a former managing editor of the Kansas City Kansan.

Copyright 2017 by Rebecca Tombaugh

What’s the matter with KanCare? Challenges on four fronts

by Andy Marso, Kansas News Service

KanCare is a $3 billion program that provides health insurance to more than 425,000 Kansans — complex and bureaucratic by its nature.

And lately it seems the privatized Medicaid program has drawn more than its share of complaints from Kansas medical providers, beneficiaries and applicants.

Some are the result of a switch in 2013 to management not by the state but instead by three private insurance companies, while others stem from court rulings or policymaker decisions.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment oversees Medicaid, but under KanCare it contracts with Amerigroup, Sunflower State Health Plan (a Centene subsidiary) and UnitedHealthcare to administer the day-to-day operations of a program that takes up more than 20 percent of the state general fund.

Recent complaints about KanCare generally fall into one of four issues:

• A switch to a new computer system and processing staff led to a backlog of applications.
• Medical providers say reimbursements sometimes aren’t worth the billing hassles.
• The state has not expanded KanCare eligibility under the Affordable Care Act.
• Federal officials say Medicaid is not living up to its promises of delivering better care at lower costs.

Here’s a closer look at each of those.

Application backlog

Problems with the KanCare application process track back to 2015, when the state rolled out a new computer system created by a private contractor, Accenture. The switch didn’t go smoothly, and a backlog of applications sitting in line for more than the 45-day federal limit formed.

The situation worsened at the end of 2015 when an executive order signed by Gov. Sam Brownback went into effect, consolidating all applications within a single KanCare Clearinghouse in Topeka. The change included thousands of complex long-term care applications for Kansans who need a nursing home bed. Before the executive order, those applications had been processed at regional offices of the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

The clearinghouse is run by the KDHE but staffed mostly by another private contractor, Maximus, whose employees had little experience with the intricacies of long-term care applications.

Since then the computer issues have largely been resolved, but the clearinghouse is still struggling with the long-term care applications and thousands remain backlogged. That has caused more than a year of cash flow issues for the state’s nursing homes, some of which have stopped accepting new residents if their applications are pending because it takes so long to get approved.

The state has tried a number of fixes, including additional processing staff and half-payments to nursing homes for residents with pending applications. The latest attempt is a pilot program for six long-term care facilities that is more like the old DCF model. The six homes are assigned a specific caseworker rather than getting their calls referred to a random worker depending on who is available at the time.

Reimbursement problems

In some sense, the reimbursement issues that medical providers face are a case of simple math: Before KanCare they billed one payer (the state) but now they bill three private insurance companies.

When KanCare started in 2013, the billing problems were particularly acute. They’ve improved with time, but some hospitals and other providers still report struggles to get payments for services.

Last year Brownback cut reimbursements for most Medicaid providers by 4 percent to help balance the state budget, causing some providers — especially dentists — to reconsider whether it’s worth taking KanCare patients.

Legislators and Brownback are looking for ways to restore the cuts.

Expansion rejection

The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, initially mandated that all states expand Medicaid access to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal government would pay 100 percent of the cost for the first three years, then gradually step down to 90 percent.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ACA after it was challenged by conservative groups. But the court also ruled that the Medicaid expansion portion had to be optional for states.

So far 31 states have signed on. Kansas is among the 19 that have not.

That has left more than 100,000 Kansans in a coverage gap: They make too much to qualify for KanCare, but they don’t make enough to qualify for federal subsidies to purchase private insurance through the ACA marketplace.

The decision to not expand KanCare eligibility also has forced hospitals to provide more uncompensated care for uninsured Kansans, hurting their bottom lines.

Opponents of expansion, mostly Republicans, say it will be too expensive and that the election of President Donald Trump means the ACA will be repealed and the federal money will disappear anyway. A policy brief released recently by Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives proposes to phase out the federal expansion dollars.

Quality of care issues

When Brownback announced the KanCare contracts, he said the privatization would lead to better health outcomes at lower costs thanks to the innovative care coordination of the three insurance companies.

Federal regulators recently said that hasn’t been the case.

In letters to state officials, they said that KanCare has not delivered on a number of health metrics and that a unique portion of Medicaid — coverage for non-medical support services for people with disabilities — has been improperly administered.

The Brownback administration vigorously denies this.

But a consultant’s report commissioned by the state’s hospitals, doctors and safety net clinics concurred with federal officials. It said that the savings in KanCare had been achieved not by coordinating care but by pinching providers.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KCUR’s Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/what-s-matter-kancare-challenges-four-fronts.