By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 14
Two Senate committees are scheduled to meet over the noon hour Thursday to talk about enrolling more children in state health insurance programs.
Members of the Senate”s Public Health and Welfare and Ways and Means committees will hear from state officials and frontline health workers about what many policymakers have identified as a big problem
the fact that 71 percent of uninsured children in Kansas are eligible for state programs but not enrolled in them.
Thursday”s hearing will continue a discussion started recently by four health foundations concerned that the enrollment issue was preventing legislators from seriously considering proposals to expand health coverage for children.
“We all support expansion, but we”ve got to figure out what”s happening with eligibility,” said Billie Hall, president and chief executive officer of the non-profit Sunflower Foundation of Topeka. “We felt the policy conversation was coming to a standstill because they (legislators) couldn”t get around the enrollment issue.”
Other foundations involved in convening the roundtable discussions were the United Methodist Health Ministries Fund, the REACH Healthcare Foundation and the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
Krista Postai, executive director of The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, is expected to testify about the one-on-one approach workers at the Pittsburg clinic use to enroll children.
“It”s very hands-on, very do-whatever-it takes,” Postai said in
a recent interview with KHI News Service.
Pat Cameron, of Inter-Faith Ministries in Wichita, is expected to testify about a Web-based tool the organization is developing to help people apply for a variety of government assistance programs.
Kansas children in low-income families are covered by the Medicaid program. Children in families that earn too much for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance can be eligible for the State Children”s Health Insurance Program.
The Kansas SCHIP program covers children in families that earn up to twice the federal poverty level, which, for a family of four is $41,300. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has proposed expanding eligibility for the program to three times the poverty level, or $61,950 for a family of four. Under the governor”s proposal, families would pay partial premiums based on their income.
Thursday”s hearing will take place in Room 123-S at the Statehouse.
-Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
jmclean@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.