The city of Hays will make a $28,519.39 payment to the Hays Recreation Commission (HRC) to help cover operating losses by the two swimming pools in 2017.
The city contracts with HRC to manage the pools. Their contract requires any operating loss or surplus incurred by HRC to be shared evenly with the city “as long as the Contractor’s portion of the loss does not exceed $26,000.”
Jeff Boyle, Hays director of parks
According to Director of Parks Jeff Boyle, in 2017 the HRC loss was $54,519.39. Boyle requested the Hays city commission reimburse HRC $28,519.39, the full 50 percent of the loss. Commissioners unanimously approved the request during their Jan. 8 meeting.
Boyle told commissioners “attendance was down this year and weather played a big part in that. We had good rains early in the season, with cool temperatures in June and again in August.”
(Click to enlarge)
Comparative statistics provided each year by HRC showed average attendance the Hays Aquatic Park (HAP) for the 79 days it was open was 611 people compared to 686 people during the 78 open days in 2016. Total HAP visitors in 2017 was 48,238 compared to 53,504 in 2016.
Wilson pool had an average of 60 patrons per day compared to 59 patrons per day in 2016. There were 3,772 visitors to Wilson poll last year compared to 3,923 in 2016.
“Ideally, we would like every day to be sunny and in the 90s but realize when operating an outdoor venue, we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature,” wrote HRC Superintendent Roger Bixenman in his note to commissioners.
At the commission’s Jan. 4 work session which was attended by several HRC board members and staff, there was some discussion about possibly increasing admission prices and adding new pool features.
Commissioners agreed the two pools enhance the “quality of life” in Hays.
“When the Hays Aquatic Park was built 17 years ago, people were told it would be a money-maker. From the first year, it was not,” said Vice-Mayor Henry Schwaller. “We are providing a service to the community that no one else will provide, benefiting Ellis County and the surrounding counties as well.”
Schwaller was quick to praise HRC and its staff for keeping the facility in good repair.
“The boilers, the pumps, were not projected to last more than 10 years and we’re now in its 17th year. It’s not uncommon for the costs of maintaining a pool to go up, and they will continue to go up.
“Regarding attendance, we have a lot of ideas of how to boost attendance and boost revenue and we’ll be dealing with that.”
Boyle told the commission the city has $321,000 in pool sales tax reserves.
“We’ve been very diligent as a commission, along with city staff and the HRC in not spending that money,” Schwaller said, “so we can continue to make those improvements and cover those losses for quite some time.”
“From my perspective, this is in the top half of quality of life issues,” Commissioner Sandy Jacobs added. “It’s something for the kids to do in the summer. We have been vigilant and we’re excited to see what you might bring in the future,” she told Boyle.
DODGE CITY — Growing up on a farm outside Smith Center, Dodge City’s new Parks and Recreation Director Troy Brown nurtured his love of the outdoors from an early age.
His love of sports and his athletic pursuits initially spurred him to go to college with the goal of teaching and coaching. After a few sessions of classroom observation, Brown was quickly convinced otherwise.
“I didn’t want to be stuck inside all the time,” said Brown. “I made the decision at that time to take a different path.”
Ever since he decided against life inside a classroom, Brown has been engaged in parks and the outdoors his entire career.
Brown initiated his parks career as a seasonal parks employee for the city of Hays. Following college he continued to work for Hays as a general laborer in the parks department. Just six months into that job he was given the opportunity to take over as facilities director for the Hays Recreation Commission.
Brown would go on to be the park manager at Cedar Bluff State Park for 11 years before being promoted within the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to a regional supervisor position for much of the western third of the state.
Brown was formerly on the board of directors for HorseThief Reservoir, and said he believes he will soon re-join that group as well.
Dodge City’s expansion of its parks and recreation venues, such as Legends Park and Longbranch Lagoon, appealed to Brown. “I know it’s a progressive community,” he said.
The expansions were obviously large undertakings for the city. Brown said much of his task and philosophy revolves around maintaining and revitalizing current facilities so the city can get the most bang from its buck.
“Everybody likes new,” he said, “but these were huge projects. I look at this as we need to get into fixing and renovating the things we currently have versus going out and building new.”
His experience with Hays’ attempts to expand its parks has formed a fiscally responsible mindset toward parks and recreation growth.
“I’m definitely not against growth,” he said, “but if you don’t have a mechanism to pay for it you can get too big. People want new parks but I believe you’ve got to be able to demonstrate how you’re going to pay for it.”
In his time with Kansas Wildlife and Parks, Brown saw the importance of generating income rather than relying on tax dollars. He said he saw state funding progressively decrease and learned to market and attract visitors to the parks.
“That’s absolutely part of it,” he said. “It all ties together.”
Brown said he has already begun to have talks with various entities such as the Convention and Visitors Bureau about how to further utilize PARD facilities to spur economic activity in Dodge City. The CVB has the city’s summer softball tournament schedule posted on its website. Parks department events like summer tournaments bring hundreds of visitors to local hotels and shops and restaurants.
While there are discussions about renovating a youth softball complex, Brown said he is basically pleased with the state of current facilities and some of his task is managing expectations. He said improving existing structures and parks needs to be the priority.
“I’d like to concentrate on getting things up to par rather than brand-new projects,” he said. “It would be wonderful to have a brand new soccer complex or something like that, but that kind of thing is going to take time.”
SELDEN — Jeff Wessel of Selden recently won state second place in the irrigated no-till division of the 2017 National Sorghum Producers Yield Contest. Wessel won with Pioneer hybrid 85G03, which yielded 116.15 bushels per acre.
DuPont Pioneer dominated the contest and won 76 percent of the 108 first-place state awards presented. Pioneer brand sorghum hybrid growers also won 18 of 24 national titles awarded in 2017.
First-, second- and third-place national honors were awarded in each of eight divisions, including dryland conventional-till, dryland double crop, dryland no-till, dryland reduced till, irrigated conventional-till, irrigated double crop, irrigated no-till and irrigated reduced-till.
“We are proud of Jeff Wessel’s performance using Pioneer brand sorghum hybrids in the 2017 NSP yield contest. Our high yield potential products have industry-leading agronomic traits and, when combined with strong management practices, demonstrate impressive productivity on their farm,” said Liesel Flansburg, DuPont Pioneer sorghum marketing manager. “We continue to increase our investment in sorghum research to develop products with the best yield potential and strong defensive traits like sugarcane aphid tolerance in a variety of growing environments and maturities.”
A detailed listing of individual winners can be found HERE.
The Humane Society of the High Plains will host its annual Soup ‘R Bowl on Jan. 28. The organization is preparing for another big turnout this year as more than 600 people were in attendance in 2017. Alicia Tripler, a new board member for the Humane Society, said the event is important for the organization.
“It is the biggest fundraiser for the Humane Society every year and has become a community event that people look forward to,” Tripler said.
Patrons will be able to try many different soups and desserts made by different local organizations and businesses, as well as be entered into a raffle.
“You buy a ticket or pay at the door for admission and community organizations and businesses have someone from their company cook a soup and then you as the patron go through and try each of the soups or the ones you want to try,” Tripler said. “After you pick your favorite, you get a full cup of your soup and we give you some voting tickets and you can vote for your favorites. Whoever gets the most votes wins the Golden Ladle that year.”
The “Soup ‘R Bowl” continues to be the biggest fundraiser for the Humane Society
The Humane Society will also have membership sign-up available and donation jars around the event. With all the cooking materials and ingredients donated by the business sponsoring the chef, the organization will not have much overhead and ends up getting a good return on the fundraising.
The 21st annual Soup ‘R Bowl will be held on Jan. 28 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Unrein Building, located at the Ellis County Fairgrounds. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the door or at the following businesses:
Hays Veterinary Hospital – 1016 E. 8th
Fur is Flying – 700 E. 8th
Back To Nature – 2707 Vine St.
Pet Sense – 2508 Vine St.
Barkley Suites – 2202 Vine St. Humane Society of the High Plains
Let’s hope and pray America’s justice system can recover from a black eye. Better still, make that a “black hole.”
Not even a genius director or writer in Hollywood could make this stuff up.
I am not a conspiracy theorist so let’s make that clear to begin with. There’s indisputable, incontrovertible evidence forthcoming about massive corruption in our government for decades. It will take time to right the ship but the process, we hope, is underway.
If readers turn into news (other than liberal media) it’s clear that the corruption in our justice agencies and beyond is enormous. In fact, the enormity of the corruption is unprecedented in American history.
Ninety percent of our media is not reporting what has taken place within many of our government agencies, especially our FBI. Department of Justice, and State Department, since Obama became president in 2009. Maybe it even goes as far back as Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Does “drain the swamp” ring a bell? Trump, like no other presidential candidate before him, campaigned on draining the swamp. Democrat and some Republican establishment politicians were fit to be tied. God willing (it may take a higher power), there may be forces at work in this president’s government to put an end to massive corruption of the past.
Deep, very deep, into most all government agencies are Obama holdovers determined to protect an Obama legacy and destroy Trump, the new guy on the block with a different kind of background unheard of in American political history. The Obama holdovers are known as the “deep state” out to get Trump when it was Hillary they wanted as our president.
The presidential campaign donations by government personnel to Hillary versus Trump is shocking! Hillary got over 90%, Trump peanuts. That in itself looks to me like a big red flag.
Instead of the deep state taking out Trump over his collusion with Russia to win the presidency, the tables have turned! No evidence has been found of Trump collusion, but mountains of evidence of collusion with Russia by Hillary and Democrats. Not only was there collusion by many Democrats, come to find out, truck loads of other corruption to put Hillary back in the White House.
Much of the corruption finally hitting the press with one bombshell after another has actually been there for years and I have known about it. Democrat Deep State, with the help of leftist media, has kept we the people from the truth and some very important facts. Americans deserve to know the truth.
I repeat. If you get your news from liberal media (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, the Times, Post, etc.) you are missing the greatest scandals to ever come down the pike in American history. You’ve got to go to conservative news to become informed. Liberal media completely ignores the bombshells.
A good question at this point is “how did we as a country let this happen?” Two things, as I see it. Number one, all the people involved in the corruption are like minded, therefore, nobody was questioned and all were in position to protect each other from any kind of scrutiny. Secondly, our liberal, in the tank media with Democrats, just flat out ignored what was going on. A free press, which we do not have, held nobody accountable.
Another question, and by far the most important one is “what’s at stake?” It’s as if we have become a police state where government, not the people, controls all. Where is the rule of law? What about equality of law? You can bet, if Trump broke all the laws Hillary did, our president would not be in the White House. The jailhouse instead.
To straighten out the corruption of the past and make people pay for their crimes may be “the” most important thing ever for this country if there is truly equal justice for all and the rule of law.
Here are just a few of the many bombshells forthcoming. Hillary broke some dozen laws with a private email server, compromised our national security, yet exonerated by the FBI’s Director James Comey. All kinds of shady stuff took place at the time. She was exonerated before an investigation even took place and the whole FBI investigation was a sham. Fast forward a year or so and we find that Comey leaked classified memos in order to get a Special Council run by Mueller for the purpose of destroying Trump. Those are crimes.
When Hillary was Secretary of State, she was right up front in selling U.S. uranium to our enemy Russia. Uranium is the key ingredient for developing nuclear weapons. Following the sale, the Clinton Foundation received $145 million dollars from Russia. During this time the FBI Director Robert Mueller totally ignored the bribes and money laundering taking place by Russians in the U.S. to complete the sale.
There was massive corruption by the FBI in trying to destroy Trump before the election, and even now. A fake dossier that Dems and maybe the FBI paid for to destroy Trump was used to get a FISA warrant by the Obama government to spy on Trump and associates. FBI personnel directly under Comey have been caught red handed saying something drastic needs to be done to keep Trump from becoming president.
Obviously, and this is critical to know as voters. Our intelligence and justice agencies have become completely politicized when there is nothing more important to this country for all agencies to be non-partisan. Using a double standard based on “who you are and not what you do” is going down the road of being a police state.
It appears to be a case of government agencies becoming “politicized” like never before. Politics first, justice a distant second, if even that.
Keep these major players high up in the chain in mind for their corruption. Robert Mueller, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, Andrew Weissman, Peter Strzok, Bruce Ohr, Susan Rice, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Yes, Hillary, of course, “and” Barack Obama.
A sixty four thousand dollar question? Is the corruption so very big with such big players as the Clintons and the others – is it even possible for we the people to have justice served? If not, we can kiss being a democratic republic goodbye. A good case, obviously, can be made that we haven’t been democratic.
And, did Obama succeed in stacking our courts with hundreds of liberal judges that fair and just trials aren’t going to happen?
Law enforcement on the scene of the shooting investigation early Friday-photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting.
Just before 11:30 Thursday, police responded to motel in the 700 Block of SW Fairlawn in Topeka for a report of a shooting, according to Lt. Jennifer Cross.
One victim, Jesse Lee McFall, 31, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.
Cross said The shooting stemmed from an argument between known subjects. Police have not reported an arrest and released no additional information early Friday.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police Criminal Investigation Bureau.
Today A slight chance of snow between 2pm and 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 20. Wind chill values as low as -4. North wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east southeast in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around 4. Wind chill values as low as -3. North wind 6 to 8 mph.
Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 21. Wind chill values as low as -4. North wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable.
Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 13. Wind chill values as low as 3. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph becoming south southwest after midnight.
Sunday Sunny, with a high near 47. South southwest wind 7 to 10 mph becoming northwest in the morning.
Sunday Night A 20 percent chance of snow after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 21.
M.L.King Day A 20 percent chance of snow before noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 25.
CANADIAN COUNTY, OK — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a report of rape and looking for suspect with connections to Kansas.
Just before 8:30 p.m. December 18, the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a subject, stating that he had a young lady come up to his residence near Hefner and Gregory Road in Canadian County, and knock on the door, according to Sheriff Chris West. When the resident opened the door, a young lady told him that she had been abducted and raped. He told authorities the girl was hysterical.
Deputies from the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office and an ambulance responded. The 17-year-old victim who lives in Oklahoma City was taken to Integris South Hospital in Oklahoma City.
During questioning, she informed Sheriff’s Investigators that she was walking to work in the area of SW 23 & Robinson Ave at about 3 p.m. when a young man that she did not know offered her a ride. She stated that she works at a fast food restaurant in Bricktown. The victim told investigators that because she was running late to work she accepted the ride. The victim also advised investigators that the suspect drove north the driver (suspect) began telling her he wanted to have sex with her, and he told her that if she tried to get away he would kill her.
The victim informed investigators that the suspect kept driving NW through some housing additions, and as it was getting darker they arrived at a location NW of Yukon. As the subject drove down the county roads in the area he would periodically pull off into secluded areas, and attempt and eventually rape his victim. The young girl was held against her will for approximately 3 hours. The young girl told investigators that her assailant had a large knife, and that he threatened to kill her with it if she attempted to escape.
The victim told authorities that when they reached the vicinity of Gregory and Hefner Road (Canadian County) that she was able to escape from the vehicle, and ran and hid in a wooded area. She stated that she hid there for about an hour and half, and watched her assailant as he drove around the area searching for her. After she felt her assailant had left the area, she was able to make her way to a house where she contacted the residents who in turn contacted the Sheriff’s Office.
The victim described the suspect as a Chinese male, 5-foot-6, 140-150 pounds, brown eyes, black hair shaved on the sides with a Mohawk on top. She stated that he had numerous pimples on his face and when he took his shirt off she saw that he had numerous pimples on his chest and back. The victim informed Investigators that her assailant was left handed, and that he possessed a large tattoo of an Owl on the inside of his left arm, and that it extended from his elbow to his wrist. She also said the owl was brown with a black outline and had gold eyes. The victim said that he told her that his name was Chin or Chan and that he worked in a nail salon. He told her that he was 21 years of age and that he had just moved to Oklahoma City and had previously lived in Wichita, Kansas and that he implied that he had lived in Yukon.
She told investigators her assailant was driving a late model silver Subaru or Nissan sedan with black interior.
Anyone with information leading to the identity of the suspect is requested to contact the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office at 405-262-3434 and ask for Lieutenant Mike Grimes.
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Rauno Nurger scored 14 points and fifth-ranked Wichita State shook off a slow start to roll past East Carolina 95-60 on Thursday night.
Shaquille Morris added 12 points for the Shockers (14-2), who improved to 4-0 in their first season in the American Athletic Conference.
Wichita State trailed 14-9 early after a 3-for-12 shooting start, but the Shockers quickly settled in to take complete control. Wichita State went ahead for good on a 15-0 run, part of a 36-9 avalanche to close the first half and drain the fight out of a once-feisty Minges Coliseum crowd.
By the time the Shockers added two more baskets to open the second half, Wichita State led 49-23 and soon had many fans streaming toward the exits.
B.J. Tyson scored 16 points for the Pirates (7-9, 1-4), who shot 32 percent in the opening half to quickly see any chance of an upset disintegrate.
BIG PICTURE
Wichita State: This is part of the Shockers’ first go-around through the American after moving from its 72-year home in the Missouri Valley Conference. They’re having no troubles so far, winning all four league games by at least 10 points. There was also the encouraging sign of seeing junior forward Markis McDuffie (12 points) hit double figures for the third straight game; he returned roughly three weeks ago from a stress fracture in his left foot that had sidelined him for the first 11 games.
East Carolina: The Pirates have been in a state of flux since coach Jeff Lebo stepped down six games into his eighth season. Assistant Michael Perry has been leading the program in the interim and there was a buzz with only the second top-five team from the AP Top 25 visiting Minges. But after that 14-9 opening, little went right as ECU fell to 5-5 under Perry.
UP NEXT
Wichita State: The Shockers visit Tulsa on Saturday.
East Carolina: The Pirates host Houston on Sunday in the second game of a three-date home stand.
HAYS, Kan. – The Fort Hays State wrestling team escaped Thursday evening’s dual against Adams State in the second half of the dual with a 24-19 victory over the visiting Grizzlies. The Tigers are now 1-2 in duals this season.
Conrad Cole led off for the Tigers in the 125-pound weight class. He faced Darek Huff. Huff came out swinging with a fall in the first period over Cole. The Grizzlies took a 6-0 lead right out of the gates. In the 133-pound bout, Dy’Juan Carney received the call for the Tigers as he took on Luis Gurulo. Gurulo used two takedowns and two escapes in the first period to give himself a 6-2 lead over Carney heading into the second frame. Carney was then pinned in the second period at the hands of Gurulo, giving the Grizzlies a 12-0 edge after two matches.
Third-ranked Brandon Ball put the Tigers on the board with an 8-3 decision over Dylan Udero in the 141-pound weight class. Ball moved to 18-2 on the season and cut the Grizzlies lead to 12-3 after three matches.
In the 149-pound bout, Efe Osaghae was set to take on Natrelle Demison. No one was able to get a point in the opening period. Demison escaped out of Osaghae’s grasp in the second period as Demison grabbed a 1-0 lead after two periods in the bout. Osaghae was penalized for stalling in the third period and Demison eventually closed the match with a 3-1 victory over Osaghae. Adams State led Fort Hays State 15-3 through the first four matches of the dual.
True freshman Brody Lewis faced Isaac Lopez in the 157-pound weight class. Lopez took a 2-0 lead into the second period after a takedown in the last 20 seconds of the first frame. Lewis cut the deficit to 2-1 with an escape, but Lopez immediately earned another takedown to go up 4-1. Lewis cut the deficit in half once more with an escape and trailed 4-2 after two periods. Lopez dominated Lewis in the third period and defeated Lewis with a 12-4 major decision and increasing the lead in the dual for Adams State to 19-3 halfway through the dual.
Halfway through the dual, the Tigers started getting things going for themselves as Marty Verhaeghe earned a 9-5 decision over Koery Windham in the 165-pound weight class. In the turning point of the match, Micquille Robinson took on Zach Wortkoetter in the 174-pound weight class. Robinson made quick use of Wortkoetter with a fall in the first period. After seven bouts, the Tigers found themselves only trailing 19-12.
Micah Felton took to the mat in the 184-pound weight class against Nevada Bencomo. Felton earned a 6-4 sudden victory after a few quick points in the third period. Rakim Dean was awarded a forfeit victory in the 197-pound weight class as Adams State kept that weight class open in the dual. After nine matches were completed the Tigers took a 21-19 leads of the Grizzlies for the first time all night.
Senior Dakota Gulley put the icing on the cake with a 4-2 decision over Rico Garcia in the 285-pound weight class. The Tigers earned the dual victory for the first time all season.
The Tigers are back in action after making a quick turnaround and head up north to Kearney, Neb. on Saturday (Jan 13) as they compete in the Midwest Duals against Western State, Colorado State-Pueblo, Chadron State and Maryville. The duals are set to commence at 9 a.m.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – The man convicted of abducting and killing a 10-year-old Springfield girl has been sentenced to death.
Circuit Judge Thomas Mountjoy on Thursday sentenced 49-year-old Craig Wood for the February 2014 death of Hailey Owens.
Woods was convicted in November of first-degree murder but the jury couldn’t decide whether to impose the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Before sentencing, Mountjoy denied motions from Wood’s attorneys for a new trial and calling judge-imposed death sentences unconstitutional.
Wood grabbed Hailey off the street and took her to his home, where he raped her and shot her in the head. Her body was found in his basement.
The case severely impacted the Springfield community. Four days after Hailey’s death, an estimated 10,000 people marched in a candlelight vigil to honor her.
TOPEKA, Kan. – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged arson.
Just after 12:30p.m. Wednesday, fire crews responded to a vehicle fire located at 541 NE Gordon Street in Topeka, according to Fire Chief Craig Duke.
Upon arrival, fire crews found a Recreational Vehicle fully involved with fire. Firefighters began an offensive fire attack bringing the flames under control. A search of the vehicle revealed no occupants.
A Topeka Fire Department Investigation’s Unit responded to this incident to determine the fire was intentionally set, according to Duke. Fire investigators were able to quickly identify and locate a suspect.
Police arrested twenty-eight year old Kenneth R. Harris He was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on one count of Arson. The estimated dollar loss in the fire is $3,500.00
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rewriting the rules on health care for the poor, the Trump administration said Thursday it will allow states to require “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients to work, a hotly debated first in the program’s half-century history.
Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said requiring work or community involvement can make a positive difference in people’s lives and in their health. The goal is to help people move from public assistance into jobs that provide health insurance. “We see people moving off of Medicaid as a good outcome,” she said.
But advocates said work requirements will become one more hoop for low-income people to jump through, and many could be denied needed coverage because of technicalities and challenging new paperwork. Lawsuits are expected as individual states roll out work requirements.
“All of this on paper may sound reasonable, but if you think about the people who are affected, you can see people will fall through the cracks,” said Judy Solomon of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for the poor.
Created in 1965 for families on welfare and low-income seniors, Medicaid now covers more than 70 million people, or about 1 in 5 Americans. The federal-state collaboration has become the nation’s largest health insurance program.
Beneficiaries range from pregnant women and newborns to elderly nursing home residents. Medicaid was expanded under former President Barack Obama, with an option allowing states to cover millions more low-income adults. Many of them have jobs that don’t provide health insurance.
People are not legally required to hold a job to be on Medicaid, but states traditionally can seek federal waivers to test new ideas for the program.
Verma stressed that the administration is providing an option for states to require work, not making it mandatory across the country. Her agency spelled out safeguards that states should put in place to get federal approval for their waivers.
States can also require alternatives to work, including volunteering, caregiving, education, job training and even treatment for a substance abuse problem.
The administration said 10 states have applied for waivers involving work requirements or community involvement. They are: Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. Advocates for low-income people say they expect Kentucky’s waiver to be approved shortly.
In Kentucky, which expanded Medicaid, Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer said work requirements could lessen the program’s impact on the state budget. They also hearken back to the program’s original intent, he added, “as temporary assistance to try to help people get back on their feet, not a permanent subsidy for someone’s lifestyle, if they’re capable of working.”
But congressional Democrats said the Trump administration is moving in the wrong direction. “Health care is a right that shouldn’t be contingent on the ideological agendas of politicians,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees Medicaid.
The debate about work requirements doesn’t break neatly along liberal-conservative lines.
A poll last year from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that 70 percent of the public supported allowing states to require Medicaid recipients to work, even as most Americans opposed deep Medicaid cuts sought by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration.
Another Kaiser study found that most working-age adults on Medicaid are already employed. Nearly 60 percent work either full time or part time, mainly for employers that don’t offer health insurance.
Most who are not working report reasons such as illness, caring for a family member or going to school. Some Medicaid recipients say the coverage has enabled them to get healthy enough to return to work.
Thursday’s administration guidance spells out safeguards that states should consider in seeking work requirements. These include:
—Exempting pregnant women, disabled people and the elderly.
—Taking into account hardships for people in areas with high employment, or for people caring for children or elderly relatives.
—Allowing people under treatment for substance abuse to have their care counted as “community engagement” for purposes of meeting a requirement.
The administration said states must fully comply with federal disability and civil rights laws to accommodate disabled people and prevent those who are medically frail from being denied coverage. States should try to align their Medicaid work requirements with similar conditions in other programs, such as food stamps and cash assistance.
The National Association of Medicaid Directors, a nonpartisan group representing state officials, said in a statement there’s no consensus on whether work requirements are the right approach.
“This is a very complex issue that will require thoughtful and nuanced approaches,” said the group.
Trump’s new direction can be reversed by a future administration. Although waivers can have lasting impact they don’t amount to a permanent change in the program. They’re considered “demonstration programs” to test ideas. The administration says the impact will be closely evaluated.
“We know that Republicans tend to think of Medicaid more as a welfare program, while Democrats tend to think of it as more of a health insurance program,” said Diane Rowland, the Kaiser foundation’s leading expert on the program. “It will be interesting to see how states are going to make this work for people.”
