By Dave Ranney
A Senate committee on Thursday learned that a bill proposing that the state collect a 3.5 percent fee on health insurance policies sold to Kansans on the federal government’s online marketplace could be used to force a vote on Medicaid expansion.

“I want to know if Senate Bill 309 could be a vehicle for Medicaid expansion,” Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, asked in the final minutes of the Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing.

A representative of the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes said that, indeed, it could because the bill includes a reference to Medicaid, meaning that if the bill were to reach the Senate floor, amendments could be proposed that would force a vote on expansion. The committee did not vote on the measure Thursday.

“It was just a hearing,” the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ty Masterson, a Republican from Andover, said afterward. “We can’t take a vote for 24 hours.” Whether the committee votes on the bill, he said, remains to be seen. “I don’t know,” Masterson said. “We’ll see what (committee members) are thinking next week.”

The Senate later adjourned for the rest of the day and for Friday, sidestepping a much-anticipated debate of a proposed plan for closing a more than $400 million gap in the state budget.

The Senate and House will reconvene Tuesday. Throughout this year’s legislative session, conservative leadership in the Republican-controlled House and Senate has quashed Democrat-led efforts to force a vote on Medicaid expansion.

Expansion would make all Kansans with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level eligible for Medicaid. For 2015 that’s annual income of $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four. The federal government will cover all costs of expansion through 2016. After that, states will be responsible for no more than 10 percent of the cost and the federal government will pay the remainder.

After the hearing Thursday, Kelly said she’d let Masterson know that if “they work this bill, they can expect that Medicaid expansion will come up in committee and again on the (Senate) floor.”

Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat who’s leading Medicaid expansion efforts in the House, said the bill, if adopted by the Senate, would encounter a similar reaction in the House. “Absolutely, an amendment will be made to expand Medicaid.” Ward said. “That’s a much better idea than raising taxes on people who are buying insurance on the exchange either because they couldn’t get anybody to sell it to them or, now, they can’t afford with the subsidies that are in Obamacare.”

Senate Bill 309, introduced Tuesday on behalf of Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Republican from Shawnee and chairwoman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, would allow the state to collect a 3.5 percent fee on health insurance policies sold on healthcare.gov, the federal government’s online health insurance marketplace.

Testifying before the committee, Pilcher-Cook said the proposed fee would generate between $18 million and $24 million annually that would be used to offset some of the costs associated with state’s Medicaid program and its implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In legislative circles, Pilcher-Cook is well-known for her opposition to the Affordable Care Act.

“Obamacare is continually taking away more and more of Kansans’ freedoms,” she said. In Kansas, three companies sell plans on the state’s federally administered online marketplace: Coventry and Aetna Health Company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.

Representatives from all three companies testified against the measure, assuring committee members that the fee would be passed on to consumers, would force a 3.5 percent increase in non-marketplace plan premiums and could lead to fewer companies participating in the marketplace.

“This tax is not necessary and is going to hurt consumers,” said Vernon Rowen, vice president for state government affairs with Coventry and Aetna Health Company. Two of the committee’s 11 members — Sen. Steve Fitzgerald of Leavenworth and Sen. Jeff Melcher of Leawood, both Republicans — indicated they were likely to support the bill.

But the committee’s vice chairman, Sen. Jim Denning, a Republican from Overland Park, said he doesn’t expect the committee to vote on the bill this year.

“We’re out of time, and this is much too big of a deal to rush through,” he said. Still, he said, the issues surrounding the increased costs associated with implementation of the Affordable Care Act are real and need to be addressed. “This isn’t going away,” Denning said. “We’ll be having this discussion next year.”

 Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

MANHATTAN- Law enforcement authorities in Riley County have located a Manhattan teenager. Kyle Nevels, 16, was reported missing on March 10.

His runaway status was ultimately forwarded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Just before 2 a.m. on Friday police officers were dispatched to the area of the 2500 block of Candlecrest Circle in Manhattan for a citizen report of two individuals observed breaking into vehicles.

Officers pursued the individuals and ultimately apprehended them after a brief foot pursuit. The suspects were identified as Kyle A. Nevels, 16, and Christopher Snyder, 14, both of Manhattan.

After taking custody of Nevels and Snyder an investigation ensued in reference to multiple vehicle burglaries that had occurred in the 2500 block of Candlecrest Circle.

As a result of the investigation Nevels was arrested for the following offenses: burglary (vehicle), interference with law enforcement, unlawful discharge of a firearm and minor in consumption of alcohol. Snyder was arrested for the offenses of burglary (vehicle), interference with law enforcement, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and minor in consumption of alcohol. Both

Nevels and Snyder are currently confined in the Geary County Detention Center located in Junction City.

Police say Nevels had been in communication with family via cell phone and reported that he was fine, was staying with friends, and would not be returning home.

SALINA- Law enforcement authorities in Salina are investigating the passing of more counterfeit money.

Captain Mike Sweeney said that a patron at Bogey’s restaurant passed a counterfeit $50 bill on South 9th Street, on Thursday morning.

The bill was discovered in a bank deposit made by the restaurant at
Bennington State Bank.

Sweeney says the amount of counterfeit bills being passed has increased due to the quality of the printers being used.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 52-year-old Missouri man is sentenced to more than 55 years for bludgeoning to death a well-known Kansas dog breeder whose body was found several days after he was killed.

Darrell Lee Broxton of Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced in Wyandotte County District Court on Friday to 667 months for the December 2012 slaying of Peter Belmont.

The 69-year-old victim was killed in his Kansas City, Kansas, home. The retired high school art teacher was nationally known for breeding, raising and showing Afghan hound dogs.

Broxton was convicted in February of intentional second-degree murder, burglary and two counts of theft. Jurors were shown evidence that Broxton was investigated for a similar homicide in 1996 in Ocala, Florida.

Broxton had been paroled in May 2012 after serving time for burglary.

WICHITA– Sedgwick County authorities are working a shooting case from Thursday night.

Officers reported in a media release that at 10:30 p.m. a 17-year-old resident in the 11100 block of West 95th Street South called 911 about someone who broke into his house.

The teen reported that he confronted the intruders and during the course of the struggle, he was shot in the abdomen.

Suspects are still at large. One is described as a white man with facial hair and a neck tattoo wearing a green hoodie, and the other was described only as wearing a black hoodie.

The victim was taken to Via-Christi St. Francis Regional Medical Center with serious injuries.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call 911 or Sheriff Investigations at 316-660-5300. They may also call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

Great Bend Post

GREAT BEND- Barton County is just a few days away from officially being taken off the list of counties that are considered to have an outbreak of Pertussis or Whooping Cough.

According to Barton County Health Director Shelly Schneider, 42 days have to pass without a confirmed case of Pertussis in order to be taken off the list.

“The only thing that might throw it off is the active cases in Reno County,” she said.

“Barton County people travel frequently to or through Hutchinson, so we still run the risk of having a confirmed case.”

The first case of Pertussis in Barton County was confirmed in late December.

That outbreak led to efforts to contain the illness with the help of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Schneider says lessons learned during the outbreak led KDHE, with input from the Barton County Health Department, to review their investigation guidelines and what is and is not possible.

“When you look at whether it is possible to contact 300 people for example in a congregation,” it’s very difficult, she said.

“We did get to have an epidemiologist come out and help us with this work for a day. They saw first hand that this is not just a computer and some paper but there a lot of people involved and it affects everybody,” Schneider said.

The good news from the outbreak according to Schneider was the large number of people who received the DTap combination vaccine and or the booster.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new report shows that more than 45 percent of Kansas students at higher learning institutions are taking at least one course from a distance.

The Lawrence Journal-World  reports the Board of Regents report shows that distance education is widespread at Kansas colleges and growing.

According to the report that’s based on data from the 2013-14 school year, Kansas colleges offered 491 distance education programs. Community colleges offered the most at 305.

The report shows the three most popular distance education programs statewide are liberal arts and sciences; administrative assistant and secretarial science; and child care and support services and management.

WASHINGTON, D.C.– This week, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) and Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) hosted a Mental Health First Aid briefing as part of Mental Health Awareness Month.

“Mental Health First Aid training is an early-detection training program that is critical to removing the stigma of mental health treatment and helping those that are struggling from mental illness,” said Congresswoman Jenkins. “Eastern Kansas has been a leader in mental health issues for years with great institutions like the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center in Lawrence, the Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Kansas, and the Family Service and Guidance Center in Topeka. It is vital we share these important educational tools with Members of Congress and their staff so we continue to raise awareness for Mental Health First Aid and gain support for the Mental Health First Aid Act.”

David Johnson, CEO of Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center in Lawrence, Kansas, was unable to attend the briefing but submitted a written testimony.  An excerpt is below:

“In any given year, only 20 percent of children with mental disorders are identified and receive mental health services. Now imagine that anyone who was developing a mental health problem or was in crisis would have a family member, a co-worker or teacher, or even a total stranger that could recognize the problem, knew how to approach the individual, and knew how to access the services they needed. A KU professor has talked about how he was trained years ago in CPR but has never encountered someone having a heart attack. While he has put his knowledge to work with students who are binge drinking, he wonders what a difference he might have made with his daughter’s eating disorder or his father-in-laws suicide if this training had been available 30 years earlier… My message is the only people who don’t need Mental Health First Aid training are people who don’t have to deal with other people.”

The briefing was sponsored by the National Council for Behavioral Health and included panelist Laira Roth, the Mental Health First Aid Project Manager from the National Council for Behavioral Health and Jamie McDonald, the Wellness, Health Promotion & Prevention Manager of the Fairfax County Community Service Board.

In April, Congresswoman Jenkins and Congresswoman Matsui introduced H.R. 1877, the Mental Health First Aid Act to expand Mental Health First Aid training and help the public identify, understand, and respond to mental health issues and disorders.