By not expanding KanCare, Kansas' privatized Medicaid program, the state lost out on approximately $334 million in federal funding in 2014 compared to amounts the state would have received had it expanded the program, according to a report recently released by the Kansas Hospital Association, which is based on analysis by the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University and Regional Economic Models, Inc.
KanCare does not provide health coverage for parents whose incomes are greater than $5,600 for a family of three, or 38 percent of the federal poverty level. In addition, non-elderly, non-disabled adults without children are not eligible for Medicaid in Kansas.
Expanding the state's Medicaid program would make an additional 100,000 low-income adults in the state eligible for health coverage in 2016, according to the report.
"If Kansas does not expand KanCare by 2016, more than $2.2 billion in federal matching funds will be lost between 2016 and 2020, stifling economic and employment growth," the report read.
The report highlighted that expanding the Medicaid program in Kansas would create nearly 4,000 jobs by 2020, with about 50 percent of those jobs being in the healthcare industry.
According to a report from the Kansas Health Institute, hospitals in the state have been lobbying to expand Medicaid for the past two years. However, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) and the state's legislature haven't taken up the issue.
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