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*For Immediate Release:    *     
January 17, 2024
          
*Contact:    *     
Grace Hoge
[email protected]

ICYMI: 100 Kansas hospital and clinic executives, health professionals endorse Medicaid expansion 

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 KEY QUOTE:"* “We know better than anyone that the issues rural health care providers face are real and will require all hands on deck to solve,” the letter said. “The time is now for leaders to step up to ensure the sustainability of rural health care. Our family, friends and your constituents expect and depend on this.”

*100 Kansas hospital and clinic executives, health professionals endorse Medicaid expansion* [ [link removed] ] 
Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector  
January 16, 2024 


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More than 100 health professionals and hospital or clinic administrators issued a letter Tuesday to the 2024 Legislature asking for bipartisan support on a bill broadening Medicaid eligibility to benefit thousands of people in need of affordable, accessible quality care.


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In the letter coordinated by the Kansas Hospital Association, the signers supported helping Kansans become healthier, expanding the health care workforce, reducing the number of uninsured patients, dealing with prior authorization problems and reversing population declines in rural Kansas. 


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“We write to you today because we also are in agreement that there is no silver bullet to the challenges rural providers face,” the letter said. “We encourage you to look at a comprehensive set of solutions to these problems. But there is one immediate step you can take to support access to care, retain health care workers and extend health insurance to more Kansans: Expanding Medicaid.”


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The letter said too many full-time, minimum-wage workers didn’t receive health insurance through employers and didn’t make enough to afford coverage on the national insurance exchange. But those same Kansans earned too much money to qualify for Medicaid in Kansas. That resulted in a coverage gap that harmed people working in the fast food, retail and other service jobs, the letter said. 


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“Uninsured Kansans are less likely to receive access to the care they need, and if they end up in the emergency room, the hospital often has to cover the bill,” the letter said. “To address this, the federal government now offers states funding to expand Medicaid to people in that coverage gap.”  


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Read the full letter here [ [link removed] ].

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