by Meg Wingerter, Kansas News Service
Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday morning vetoed a bill to expand Medicaid eligibility in Kansas, spurring a veto override effort an hour later in the Kansas House.
House Bill 2044 earlier this month was approved three votes short of a veto-proof majority in the House and two short in the Senate. An estimated 300,000 Kansans would qualify for coverage under expansion, though only about half that number would enroll in the first year, according to estimates.
KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, doesn’t serve childless adults without disabilities, and only covers adults with children if they have incomes below 32 percent of the poverty line, or about $3,800 annually.
Brownback’s veto message echoed his previous objections to the bill, which he said prioritized the newly eligible adults over those with disabilities.
“I am vetoing this expansion of ObamaCare because it fails to serve the truly vulnerable before the able-bodied, lacks work requirements to help able-bodied Kansans escape poverty, and burdens the state budget with unrestrainable entitlement costs,” he said.
But Mike Oxford, executive director of the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center, said Wednesday he was “pissed off” by Brownback’s statement that KanCare expansion would harm people with disabilities. He spoke at a TILRC event, where members celebrated the bill passing with plastic flutes of sparkling grape juice.
About 20 percent of people who would become eligible for insurance under KanCare expansion have a disability, Oxford said, and others may have chronic health conditions. While there are some exceptions that allow them to work and earn more money, the most straightforward way for a person with disabilities to qualify for KanCare is to show they aren’t able to work and have less than $2,000 in assets.
People with disabilities also would benefit from expansion if the workers providing personal care services to them became eligible for KanCare, Oxford said. Most personal care workers earn about $10 an hour and can’t afford health insurance, so they leave for better-paying jobs, he said.
“Maybe (expansion) would make it easier for people to find good health and keep good help,” he said.
In his veto message, Brownback also said he disliked that Planned Parenthood could receive more funding under Medicaid expansion. Federal law prohibits using taxpayer money to fund abortions, but the clinics could receive Medicaid reimbursements for services like gynecological cancer screenings.
“I will not support this legislation that continues to fund organizations that undermine a culture of life,” Brownback said.
Supporters of expansion said they thought they could persuade some lawmakers to change their votes, but the timeline for an override could make it difficult for either side to change legislators’ minds.
Meg Wingerter is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach her on Twitter @MegWingerter. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.
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