Kansas Health

Change necessary, but Kansas must choose the right prescription for health care woes

[Editorial, "Costly care," The Lawrence Journal-World, 16 February 2005.]

The editors of The Lawrence Journal-World are correct to point out the need for decisive action on Medicaid:

The state's Medicaid costs have risen by 30 percent over the last two years and are expected to rise 9 percent this year to over $2 billion a year. According to state reports, the increase is being driven by families, including many single mothers with children, whose jobs don't provide health insurance benefits.

Without some changes, Medicaid costs will continue to eat away at the state's budget, reducing money available for other purposes like education and transportation.

The recommendations go awry, however, in supporting changes that will only make matters worse. If Medicaid costs are increasing, for instance, does it make sense to expand the rolls without reform?

A campaign would try to add 40,000 Kansas children to HealthWave, the state's existing health insurance program for children from low-income families, and expand HealthWave to cover the uninsured parents of many of those children.

Getting these families in a health insurance program would encourage them to seek checkups and preventative care that might reduce serious illnesses. That, in turn, may lower the state's cost for their care.

"May" is the operative word in that last sentence. More likely is that expanded coverage would eat away at private coverage while forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab. Not only that, no matter how charitable it may sound to cover additional people through Medicaid, expanding coverage in a broken program that is unsustainable is irresponsible and hardly a gift to anyone.

If legislators want to help those least able to afford coverage, then they should act to reduce costly mandates, promote HSAs where possible, and consider offering tax credits for the uninsured.

["Kansas Health Insurance Mandates Exceed the National Average," The Flint Hills Center, 2005.]