By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 28
The state would help buy health insurance for several thousand low-income parents under a bill endorsed Wednesday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Currently, Kansas provides health insurance assistance through its HealthWave program for children living in homes with income up to 200 percent of
federal poverty guidelines
. But only adults earning 37 percent or less of the poverty level – about $5,000 a year for a family of two
– qualify for Medicaid, the federal/state program that provides health insurance for the poor.
“Kansas has one of the lowest eligibility levels in the country,” Marcia Nielsen, executive director of the Kansas Health Policy Authority, told committee members as she testified on behalf of
Senate Bill 387
, the embodiment of several health reform recommendations released March 20
by the health policy authority”s Health for All Kansans Steering Committee
. “A program like premium assistance is ideal in a state like Kansas.”
Premium assistance is the most significant of the reforms proposed in the bill. According to the plan, an additional 8,500 Kansas parents earning up to 50 percent of the poverty level would receive state assistance by 2009. The cost for doing that is estimated to be $27 million, with $16 million of that coming from the federal government. The bill also includes tentative provisions for extending aid to families up to 100 percent of poverty level in the fourth year of the assistance program, which is when it would be fully phased in.
Health policy officials have said the assistance program could reduce the number of uninsured Kansans by up to 10 percent. Currently, almost 300,000 Kansans are thought to be without insurance.
Nielsen said the health policy authority would spend a year building the program before beginning to enroll beneficiaries. She said the agency would work with current state contractors to develop the health plans that would be offered. She was the only person to testify on behalf of the bill.
“We”ve spent most of the session talking about kids. This is for adults,” said Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka. “What are we going to do for our kids?”
Nielsen noted that the bill also includes provisions for stepped up efforts to enroll more children in HealthWave. About 71 percent of uninsured children are thought to be eligible for the program but not enrolled. She also said that the expectation was that adults insured through the premium assistance program would bring their children into the plan.
“Is there anyone brave enough to oppose this bill?” Committee Chairman Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, joked after asking if anyone in the room cared to present opposing testimony.
No hands were raised in response.
-Mike Shields is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
mshields@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 123.