Kansas’ dilemma: partisan principles vs. healthcare reality

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/kansas-dilemma-partisan-principles-vs-healthcare-reality?cid=sm_fb_maddow

By Steve Benen
Sept. 22, 2015

eff King, a leader of the Republican-led state Senate in Kansas, has long been opposed to the Affordable Care Act. Indeed, like most GOP officials in Kansas, King has balked at even allowing a debate over expanding “Obamacare” in the state.

But Mercy Hospital in Independence, Kansas, recently announced it will permanently close its doors on Oct. 10, in large part because the state refuses to consider Medicaid expansion under the ACA. The medical facility is in Jeff King’s district – prompting him to give “Obamacare” a second look.

He told the Lawrence Journal-World last week that if the state could pursue a conservative approach to Medicaid expansion – along the lines of what Indiana and other “red” states have already embraced – it would be “something that Kansas needs to strongly consider.”

•••••

the Kansas Hospital Association, which has pleaded with Republican policymakers to be more responsible, has warned state officials that additional facilities may yet close for the same reason. The Topeka Capital-Journal article added that the Kansas Hospital Association has been keeping track of “the amount of federal money Kansas has passed up by not expanding since January 2014.”

As of yesterday, the total was nearly $738 million.

•••••