http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/16/1421668/-Kansas-Republicans-Panic-Consider-Medicaid-Expansion-as-Rural-Hospital-Fails?detail=email
The closure of Independence, Kansas Mercy Hospital may mark the moment where discussion of Medicaid Expansion took a sudden and significant turn. The Brownback administration had promised significant growth for Kansas communities, proclaiming that "The Sun Is Shining in Kansas" but for Montgomery County, Kansas, the last two years seem far more like a nightmare that they cannot escape.
Kansas will lose its first hospital in nine years when Mercy Hospital in Independence begins a phased closure starting Oct. 10 – a victim of changes in hospital reimbursement and slow depopulation.
The hospital has struggled financially for a few years and officials tried for months to negotiate agreements with other hospitals in the region. In late July, they signed a preliminary agreement to sell its assets to Coffeyville Regional Medical Center, but last week officials said they were calling a halt the talks without an agreement.
About 190 jobs are affected.
"I've never been amenable to just an expansion of the Affordable Care Act," Senate Vice President Jeff King said Tuesday. "But as we look at states like Indiana that take a real state-centric approach to addressing the health care needs of their poor, I think that's something that Kansas needs to strongly consider."
Last week, Mercy Hospital in King's home town of Independence announced it will close its doors Oct. 10. The hospital cited several factors in its decision, including declining reimbursement rates from Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly.
What Senator King knows is that his home community, Montgomery County, has been dealt repeated body blows by the policies of the Kansas Republicans. The loss of a hospital is the newest and most notable, but it was last year when Amazon decided to leave nearby Coffeyville. Amazon at one point hired 1,000 Full Time Employees. Between Amazon, the loss of John Deere (38 employees), and Southwire (200 employees), Montgomery County has been dealt a harsh hand. Montgomery County, and their roughly 35,000 residents were not prepared for the significant job losses that have hammered these small and proud Kansas towns.
Despite the fact Senator Jeff King has seen the light, he will have a hard fight for medicaid expansion within the Kansas Senate. Senate member Mary Pilcher Cook referred to medicaid expansion as a "cold hearted attack on the disabled" in a conference committee; and advanced a counter proposal: placing a tax on individuals who buy plans through the ACA website. In a town hall meeting in DeSoto, Kansas 2014, Senate Member Julia Lynn referred to Medicaid expansion as "a trap".
i will never understand people faced with the reality of what they have been supporting is not what it was promoted as. denial of Pres. and Obamacares by lies and misinformation and misleading now has come home to roost and now what they were denied most by their choice by supporting those who opposed now see the ignorance of their decision.
Pres. was trying to help their politicians were being vindictive at their expense and now the must pay the piper no hospital or healthcare plan this is unfolding in other red states that defiantly refused to consider their constituents in favor of resisting the Black Pres. recognize
"I've never been amenable to just an expansion of the Affordable Care Act," Senate Vice President Jeff King said Tuesday. "But as we look at states like Indiana that take a real state-centric approach to addressing the health care needs of their poor, I think that's something that Kansas needs to strongly consider."
really he had to look at another state that showed leadership and looked out for it's people as something they should consider??????? truly the party of stupid all encompassing.
