Foundation Journal

An NPR news report on the impact on Kansas hospitals because of failed efforts to expand Medicaid aired this week. The report shares how "Governor Sam Brownback and Republican legislative leaders have shown no interest in expanding Medicaid," while documenting the loss of federal funds and hospitals' case to press Kansas legislators to pick up the Obamacare subsidies. Missing from the report is an update on the impact on the lives of people eligible for health services in Kansas.

As a followup to a post from last year on ways Missouri legislators and government officials drive low-income workers into poverty, I have collected another set of roadblocks unfairly placed on poor people. The list this time includes corporations that have developed products and services that target low-income or vulnerable populations. 1. Block Medicaid Expansion. FamiliesUSA infographic (click for full size view) Missouri legislators get the prize for going the extra mile on this. Even strongly Republican-led states like Indiana , Tennessee , Utah and Wyoming  are either considering expanding or have decided to expand Medicaid, a state-administered health program supporting very low-income workers and their families. Wyoming's plan to expand Medicaid will provide 17,600 people with access to health care, plus provide 800 jobs. States like Wyoming are realizing that expanding Medicaid relieves hospitals from uncompensated costs. “I will do everything I can to pre...

The annual point-in-time count of homeless people starts with a flurry of activity. A steadily rising number of men migrate into City Union Mission 's chapel, where the survey is conducted, leading to a room filled with 150 people. I fully expect my perceptions of homelessness to be reinforced; I expect to see and talk with hard-working, clear-eyed individuals down on their luck, without health care, without a good job or money to make ends meet...and alone. In one sense they are just like the people I work with every day, except they lack necessities like a home, a job, health care, transportation. Vickie Riddle, the survey coordinator with Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City , interviews one of the men to show us survey takers how it's done. After our last instructions we spread out across several tables to conduct interviews about health conditions and lifestyle behaviors in an open room with everyone in earshot listening to the most private information th...

Missouri Dept of Social Services chart showing current Medicaid (MO HealthNet) enrollment and expenses. (click image for full size) I attended a Local Investment Commission (LINC) meeting last week and listened to a detailed report on the Medicaid expansion options for Missouri under the Affordable Care Act. The expansion seems like a no-brainer option for Missouri with a significant increase in low-income people covered under health insurance. However, a Republican-controlled legislature in Missouri promises to make this a tough fight. As many as 300,000 people , mostly low-income families, would gain access to health care at a minimal cost to the state during the first five years of the expansion. Forget the anti-tax, "small government" talk, extending Medicaid coverage means an improved quality of life for lower-income people -- the most crucial element of the extension. Medicaid, as Brian Kinkade,  interim director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, i...