Category: Health

Late-night deal rewrites Kansas public health laws on masks, vaccines and quarantines

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — In the waning hours of the veto session, the Kansas Legislature approved a rewrite of the state’s public health laws, disregarding bipartisan concerns the bill was too restrictive.

After weeks of conversation and modifications to proposed legislation, Senate Bill 34 came together shortly before the House and Senate debated the bill. The response to government actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic targets mask mandates, quarantine orders and vaccination requirements.

For example, no governmental body or public official can mandate face masks to prevent the spread of any infectious disease. Certain health care professionals, like surgeons, would be exempt from this restriction, but nursing home employees could not be required to wear a mask.

While bill backers argued the bill was a must after what they felt was drastic government overreach during the pandemic, the bill’s application to infectious diseases beyond just COVID-19 alarmed some lawmakers. Legislators on both sides of the aisle pointed to the tuberculosis outbreak in Wyandotte County and potential impacts on the Department of Corrections during an outbreak as blind spots in the bill.

“You didn’t want to wear a mask and you didn’t want to get a vaccine,” said Rep. Boog Highberger, D-Lawrence. “Neither did I. I also didn’t want my fellow citizens to die from an infectious disease.”

The bill passed the House by a 64-53 margin, with just one more vote than needed to pass. The Senate passed the bill on a 23-17 vote. Gov. Laura Kelly will now have the chance to weigh in on the bill, knowing the support feel well short of the two-thirds support needed to override a veto.

“We went over this bill and it just didn’t feel like it was ready,” said Rep. Chuck Smith, R-Pittsburg. “I hate masks personally but in some events they need to be used.”

Sen. Kellie Warren, R-Leawood, said this was a bill Kansans wanted to see passed during the hearings for the 2021 Special Committee on Government Overreach and the Impact of COVID-19 mandates, which held a series of hearings in advance of the special session in November.

“We heard for days from Kansans across this state about the impact on their daily lives, on their families and on their jobs,” Sen. Warren said. “What we heard was not pretty.”

Other legislators argued even with the best intentions, the bill protects Kansans from government overreach.

“The way future historians are going to look at how we as a nation surrendered our rights because we were afraid is not going to be a bright spot in our history,” said Rep. Pat Proctor, R-Fort Leavenworth. “I want these measures in place, if for no other reason than to speak to those future historians that we did something to repair the damage.”

Removed from the bill was a provision that would have allowed off-label prescriptions of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, a sought-after provision for some by Sen. Mark Steffen and other GOP lawmakers.

Sen. Steffen, a Hutchinson Republican and anesthesiologist, admitted to prescribing ivermectin to COVID-19 patients and being investigated by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

If the bill should become law, government entities, except medical facilities, would not be allowed to require a vaccine passport or to discriminate based on vaccination status. In addition, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would only be able to add a vaccine to the list of immunizations needed for school if it has full FDA approval.

All vaccines currently on the list received approval from the FDA. The COVID-19 vaccines are currently under emergency use authorization in younger children and are only fully approved for adults.

Another provision would strip the health officer’s authority to require law enforcement to assist with quarantine enforcement. Sen. Richard Hildebrand, R-Baxter Springs, said this had yet to occur in Kansas but that law enforcement groups had told him they were not comfortable with the possibility.

Sen. Hilderbrand said this would prevent the state from a lockdown like those in other countries.

“I do not think our state of Kansas should have the ability to do the same thing that’s happening to those poor people in Shanghai, and this would do that,” Sen. Hilderbrand said.

Some senators balked at this comparison.

“What has been going on in China has been totally different than what’s been going on in Kansas in the last two years,” said Sen. Pat Pettey, D-Kansas City, Kansas.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/05/late-night-deal-rewrites-kansas-public-health-laws-on-masks-vaccines-and-quarantines/

Legislature delays negotiations of $4 billion Kansas Medicaid contracts until 2023

Bill also restricts governor’s authority to close churches during emergency

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Kansas Republican legislators moved Tuesday to delay negotiations of the nearly $4 billion contracts for insurance companies managing the state’s Medicaid system until 2023.

The bill blocks all requests for proposals for managed care organizations administering KanCare until at least Jan. 1, 2023. The GOP-controlled Legislature was eager to push the process of awarding the new KanCare contracts until January, after the gubernatorial election.

However, Democrats argued this move allowed no competition and no accountability over the three companies overseeing KanCare. They noted a previous version of the provision heard earlier this year lacked support beyond Republican legislators.

Opponents also argued the delay would force the equivalent of a no-bid, one year extension of contracts with Sunflower Health Plan, United Healthcare and Aetna Better Health of Kansas, even if it is not delineated in the bill.

“What we are doing here is altering the procurement process for just the three MCOs. Why would we do that?” said Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, D-Kansas City, Kansas. “That’s kind of a slippery slope. How many other times is the legislature going to get involved in this? This is black and white. This is not right.”

Representatives approved the measure 84 to 38, following the lead of the 26 senators who cast affirmative votes before adjourning the regular session in early April. Gov. Laura Kelly has not yet expressed if she will act to veto the measure, but the measure was a vote shy of a veto-proof majority in the Senate should she choose to do so.

The bill also contains an unrelated section limiting Gov. Kelly’s power to close or restrict capacity at Kansas churches during a state of emergency. Legislators combined both measures into the new bill during a conference committee last month.

Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, insisted the new language would not require an extension of current contracts and argued the proposal would ease concerns from the state’s Medicaid director.

She also questioned Kelly’s desire to have the KanCare system managed by nonprofit entities instead of leaving it open to all. She argued the current for-profit organizations overseeing KanCare have done a good job providing services.

“I don’t care if they are profit or nonprofit,” Rep. Landwehr said. “What I care about is the citizens that we serve get their services and they get them without interruption. That’s why I’m here.”

Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, called into question Kelly’s handling of previous RFPs and issues in other departments. He lambasted the governor for her handling of the strain placed on the state’s beleaguered unemployment system and said he could not be sure she would manage this better.

Rep. Tarwater also noted that Nebraska put out a similar request for proposal a few weeks ago with a deadline of the end of the year.

“It’s a simple process,” he said. “It can be done in a shorter time period, and it can be done properly.”

Gov. Kelly is running for reelection in 2022 and should she lose, control over these KanCare contracts would likely go to presumptive Republican opponent Derek Schmidt. Schmidt, the state’s attorney general, previously weighed in on the issue, saying the Legislature did have the authority to delay this process.

Rep. John Carmichael, who previously ripped this tactic as a corrupt, “pay-to-play” scheme, asked lawmakers to remember the 2014 investigation into whether KanCare contributors paid off lawmakers.

“Where did this idea come from? Who is the proponent of this idea?” the Wichita Republican asked. “No one can explain a good, legitimate reason to do this.”

House and Senate leadership have denied any misconduct in seeking to delay the contracts.

Rep. Carmichael also argued the Kansas constitution already enshrined the ultimate right to practice religion and passing the provision barring the governor from closing churches would simply be duplicative.

However, House majority leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, reminded members that the governor did close churches early in the pandemic, thus requiring this measure.

“It’s important for us to do this because she did not listen to the constitution,” Rep. Hawkins said. “Maybe she’ll listen to the statue, maybe she won’t but it will be in two places now.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/04/26/legislature-delays-negotiations-of-4-billion-kansas-medicaid-contracts-until-2023/

Doctor tells human side of medicine

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Opinion column

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

by Murrel Bland

There are stories that need to be told to the public concerning medicine.

That was the message that Dr. Sanjay Gupta delivered Thursday, April 21. Dr. Gupta is the chief medical correspondent for Cable News Network. He received the William Allen White Foundation National Citation presented at the annual meeting of the William Allen White Foundation trustees at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. More than 300 persons, including students and faculty, packed into the ballroom of the Kansas Union to hear Dr. Gupta speak.

Dr. Gupta told of how he was embedded with a group of U.S. Navy medical doctors, called the “devil docs,” who operated on wounded soldiers who were in Baghdad, Iraq. Dr. Gupta, who is also a practicing neurosurgeon, was suddenly pressed into service. A young U.S. Marine officer had removed his helmet and was struck in the head with a bullet.

Dr. Gupta said he was hard-pressed for equipment. He had to use a Black and Decker drill to cut through the man’s bone. The drill, which was sterilized, was the same one used to erect the tent where the doctors operated. Sometime after the successful operation, Dr. Gupta received a telephone call that led to a reunion with the young officer in San Diego.

Dr. Gupta was also embedded with members of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan; he told the story of life-saving missions. He also told of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. He was also on the shortlist as a candidate for U.S. Surgeon General during the Obama administration.

Dr. Gupta, who is the son of parents who immigrated to the United States from India, is married to Rebecca Olson, a family law attorney. They are the parents of three teenage daughters and live in Atlanta.

Although he said he is very committed to the practice of medicine and to quality journalism, he said his first commitment is to his family.

Right after Dr. Gupta completed his address of about 20 minutes, he received a T-shirt commemorating the KU basketball’s national championship. The audience acknowledged that gift with a rousing approval.

Dr. Gupta left Lawrence and was headed to Ukraine.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is a trustee of the William Allen White Foundation.