There was some movement in the Kansas House to work on a bill potentially expanding Medicaid access. That movement has now ended.
On Thursday, the House Health and Human Services Committee voted along party lines to table further discussion on House Bill 2556, which would have added between 40,000 and 50,000 people to the state’s Medicaid system. The 12-5 vote came a day after testimony in that committee and two Senate committees on potentially expanding Medicaid, the first time lawmakers had heard testimony on expansion in four years.
If they choose, House lawmakers could reassign Medicaid expansion to other committees, move it to another bill or push the issue to the floor with enough support. Further conversation in the Senate is unlikely this session.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has strongly supported expanding Medicaid and called the decision disappointing. She has said expansion will help people who don’t otherwise qualify for insurance, benefit close to 60 rural hospitals listed as at risk for closure and bring in around $700 million in annual federal funds. Critics have said expansion won’t actually affect people in need and the federal government could end its funding support at any time.
