Not Expanding Medicaid Costing Midwest Billions Of Dollars, Tens of Thousands Of Jobs
A study released earlier this month by the White House Council of Economic Advisers says the decision not to expand Medicaid is costing Kansas and other Midwest states billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs.
According to the study, Kansas alone is passing up $820 million and 3,800 jobs over the next three years by choosing not to expand Medicaid eligibility. The federal government would pay for nearly all of the cost of the expansion, which would add as many as 100,000 Kansans to the state’s Medicaid rolls. In neighboring Missouri, the cost is far higher: It is passing on nearly $4 billion in federal funds between now and 2016, as well as 16,900 additional jobs.
Altogether, the five Midwest states that have not expanded Medicaid -- Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Indiana -- will be forfeiting $8.4 billion in federal funding and nearly 47,000 jobs over the next three years, according to the study.
But Sean Gatewood, who heads the Kansas Health Consumers Coalition, said that is not his group's main argument for expansion of coverage.
“I represent consumers, and consumers would be greatly benefitted by the improved health benefits Medicaid expansion would bring,” Gatewood said.
Medicaid expansion would help thousands of Kansans manage chronic diseases and get preventive health screenings, he said, and would protect them from financial hardships related to being uninsured.
"The financial stresses that families would not have to endure, and therefore lean on the rest of the economy," he said. "Things like borrowing money to pay for health care costs or forgoing paying other bills.”
Currently, most of the approximately 425,000 Kansans enrolled in Medicaid – called KanCare – are children, new mothers, the disabled and seniors in nursing homes. Able-bodied adults with children are eligible only if they earn less than 33% of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is $7,770 annually. No matter their income, adults without children aren’t eligible unless they are disabled.
Expansion would extend Medicaid coverage to all those earning less than 138% of the poverty level – about $32,500 annually for a family of four.
A study released earlier this year by the Kansas Center for Economic Growth also outlined the potential economic effect on the state.
Gov. Sam Brownback has opposed expanding Medicaid as envisioned by the Affordable Care Act. He said that the federal government can’t be trusted to make good on the financial support promised by the health reform law.
And even if the governor were to have a change of heart, the decision is no longer his alone. Kansas lawmakers passed legislation in the 2013 session that requires the governor to get legislative approval before going ahead with Medicaid expansion.
Kansas is one of 21 states to so far reject expansion. Of the 30 remaining states, 26 have implemented some version of expansion. The issue is still being debated in the other three.
A “ticker” on the Kansas Hospital Association website keeps track of how much federal money the state has forgone since the first of the year by not expanding Medicaid. By late last week it had topped $184 million.
Thompson is a reporter with Kansas Public Radio. This article was originally published on the website of the Kansas Health Institute.
