KHI

TOPEKA – Last year’s “repeal and replace” fight in Congress underscored how deep−and deeply confusing−disagreements over health care policy can be.

In October and November of 2017 David Jones, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health, traveled to Kansas and Colorado to learn what Republican and Democrat legislators and other state policy leaders are concerned about when it comes to health reform. KHI helped facilitate Jones’ visit to Topeka, where he met with 16 health policy stakeholders, including legislators, agency officials, health insurance representatives, health care providers, and advocates. His visit also included meeting with a bipartisan focus group of legislators at KHI.

Jones’ report, Views from the Heartland: Prospects for Bipartisanship in Health Reform, finds that leaders in both Topeka and Denver are frustrated with the volatility of national politics, have divergent views on what the problems are with health reform and health policy and their root causes, but share the desire to focus on health and health outcomes and improve access to care, especially in rural communities.

For more information about the results of the original survey of legislators across the U.S. that preceded Jones’ study, see Pagel C, et al. A way forward for bipartisan health reform: Democrat and Republican state legislator priorities for the goals of health policy.