Back to All NewsStatement of David Jordan, President and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, on Governor Kelly’s 2024 Medicaid Expansion Proposal:
Expanding Medicaid will bring down health care costs for all Kansans. Most importantly, it will provide health coverage to 150,000 Kansans who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little get subsidized coverage on the health care marketplace. Expanding Medicaid will protect Kansas hospitals, create jobs, and strengthen our communities. We applaud Governor Kelly for her continued commitment and tireless work to expand Medicaid. Failure to expand Medicaid has resulted in Kansas losing nearly $7 billion. It’s time to expand Medicaid. As Governor Kelly’s “Healthy Workers, Healthy Economy” tour highlighted, with the critical need for Medicaid expansion in every corner of the state, we can’t afford to wait another year.
While we share the Governor’s support for Medicaid expansion and support the bipartisan effort to ensure that 2024 is the year for Kansas to expand Medicaid, we oppose the proposed work requirements included in the plan. Implementing work requirements creates barriers to coverage and hoops for Kansans to jump through to get health coverage they qualify for as part of expansion. No Kansan should need to jump through unnecessary hoops to access health care. We should be breaking down barriers to care instead of implementing policies that result in the loss of health coverage.”