By JIM MCLEAN

Committees in the Kansas House and Senate have introduced Medicaid expansion bills modeled after a plan implemented last year in Indiana.

The identical measures, drafted by the Kansas Hospital Association, would provide coverage to approximately 150,000 low-income but non-disabled adults by making them eligible for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program.

Tom Bell, president and chief executive of KHA, said the proposal was written with input from Kansas lawmakers, who he said wanted something patterned after Indiana’s “consumer-driven plan.”

“Our proposal isn’t exactly like Indiana’s, but it does have a lot of the same elements,” Bell said.

The Indiana plan was crafted by conservative Republican Gov. Mike Pence and approved by that state’s Republican-controlled Legislature. It requires beneficiaries to pay up to 2 percent of their monthly income and locks them out of coverage if they fall behind.

The Kansas plan, which KHA is calling “The Bridge to a Healthy Kansas,” also requires people earning above the federal poverty level to make monthly payments into a personal health care account and, like the Indiana plan, terminates coverage for those who fall behind in their payments.

“The idea is to create some personal investment,” Bell said.

The Kansas proposal, which was introduced Tuesday by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee and its Senate counterpart, also would make participants responsible for a $25 co-pay if they go to the emergency room for non-emergency care.

Rep. Susan Concannon, a Beloit Republican, made the motion to introduce the bill in the House committee, which traditionally honors such requests from members without requiring debate and a vote. However, Concannon and others don’t anticipate the bill will remain in the committee long enough for hearings. Rather, they expect House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Stilwell Republican and expansion opponent, to refer the bill to a new committee and work to keep it from coming to a vote on the House floor.

“It will be assigned to another committee and probably will not be worked this year,” Concannon said. “But at least we have a bill and opportunity for discussion. Whether it’s in committee or outside of committee, we have a bill and we can have some discussion.”

Concannon was one of several lawmakers that Merrick removed from the Health and Human Services Committee prior to the session because of their support for expansion.

Both versions of the expansion bill will be given numbers Wednesday when they are formally introduced on the House and Senate floors.

‘Beyond budget neutral’

Kansas hospitals have been urging passage of expansion for several years without success. The bill they backed last year, which merely authorized Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to craft an expansion plan and negotiate its approval with federal officials, received a hearing but no vote in either the House or Senate.

Brownback opposes expansion but has said he might be willing to discuss a plan that meets certain requirements. Among other things, he has said, it must be budget neutral.

Bell said the KHA plan meets that requirement. He said it includes funding mechanisms that would generate more than the estimated $55 million annual cost of expansion.

“It is beyond budget neutral,” Bell said.

The savings and revenue-raising measures called for in the plan would generate an estimated $183 million in 2017 and $217.7 million in 2018. The total would increase to $240 million by 2020, according to KHA estimates.

The proposal creates several special funds to pay for expansion. One would collect premiums from beneficiaries that are expected to total $16.4 million in 2017 and grow to $20.5 million by 2020.

Between $7.9 million and $8.9 million a year from a drug rebate program would flow into another fund. A third fund would capture a portion of the privilege taxes paid by the KanCare managed care organizations. That is expected to total $20.3 million in 2017 and average between $15 million and $15.8 million annually through 2020.

In addition to the new revenue sources in the bill, the hospital association estimates that expansion would create opportunities to save up $113 million by reducing the need for KanCare services for which the state is now paying.

Brownback and other Republicans have said any expansion plan should require that beneficiaries work. However, federal officials have consistently rejected expansion plans that contained a work requirement. So The Bridge to a Healthy Kansas proposal requires only that recipients be referred to an employment assistance program.

“That’s as far was we can go,” Concannon said. “But studies have shown here that many of those 150,000 are working Kansans. They’re our working poor.”

Despite efforts to appease Brownback and Republican legislative leaders, KHA and other expansion advocates face an uphill fight.

For one thing, the bill doesn’t address one of Brownback’s top priorities, the elimination of waiting lists for Kansans with physical and developmental disabilities. Currently several thousand Kansans with disabilities are receiving medical care under KanCare but are wating for support services to help them live independently.

Key legislators share Brownback’s objection to extending health benefits to non-disabled Kansans until the waiting lists are eliminated.

“The state has a responsibility to provide a health care safety net to the poor, disabled and elderly. My concern begins when we expand that to able-bodied adults,” said Rep. Dan Hawkins in a recent blog.

Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Expansion advocates are hoping that the closure last fall of Mercy Hospital in Independence and the financial struggles of other Kansas hospitals will add urgency to the debate and win over some rural lawmakers. They say the hundreds of millions of additional federal dollars expansion would bring to the state could help offset reductions in Medicare reimbursements triggered by the Affordable Care Act and federal budget reductions.

Brownback isn’t persuaded. In his State of the State address earlier this month, he restated his opposition to expansion.

“It was Obamacare that cut Medicare reimbursements to rural hospitals,” Brownback said, referring to the Affordable Care Act. “It was Obamacare that caused the problem. We should not expand Obamacare to solve the problem.”

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

GRAY COUNTY- Two Kansas men died in accident just after 5 a.m. on Thursday in Gray County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported the two men were standing on the westbound shoulder of U.S. 50 near a disabled vehicle involved in an earlier accident five miles east of Cimarron.

A westbound 2012 Dodge pickup driven by Darrell Wright II, 27, Woodward, OK, attempted to avoid the disabled vehicle, drove on the shoulder and hit both men Christopher Louis Conrardy, 27, Cimarron, and Chris Alan Hamilton, 50, Garden City.

Wright, Conrardy and Hamilton were transported to Western Plains Medical Center. Conrardy and Hamilton died.

Just before 5 a.m., a 2007 Chevy pickup driven by Conrardy was westbound on U.S. 50 five miles east of Cimarron.

The pickup traveled left of center and struck the 4th and 5th axle of an eastbound semi driven by Hamilton.

A portion of U.S. 50 between Dodge City and Ingalls was closed due to an accident, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Olathe shooting range co-owner William Basore says he faced discrimination when he couldn’t get insurance for his new car last fall because of his business.

A bill reviewed Thursday by a Kansas Senate committee would protect Basore and any others businesses “engaged in the lawful commerce of firearms or ammunition products” from discriminatory practices by businesses such as banks, payment processors or insurance companies.

Gun-rights advocates spoke in favor of the bill at a Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs hearing. But the measure was strongly criticized by lobbyists who wanted to include amendments or feared that it would create potential liabilities. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri lobbyist Elise Higgins said the bill should protect organizations that offer health care for women.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Olathe shooting range co-owner William Basore says he faced discrimination when he attempted to insure his new car but was denied coverage last fall.

A bill being reviewed Thursday by a Kansas Senate committee would protect Basore and any others “engaged in the lawful commerce of firearms or ammunition products” from discriminatory practices by service providers such as banks, payment processors or insurance companies.

The Kansas firearms industry non-discrimination act is sponsored by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs. It also would allow victims to file a lawsuit against companies within two years of the discriminatory act.

The bill is one of several initiatives around the nation that would outlaw discrimination against the firearms industry. Proposals are also being considered in Georgia and Alabama.

WICHITA – A Kansas massage parlor owner was sentenced Wednesday to time served (10 months) for trying to recruit a Chinese-speaking woman to perform sexual services at a massage parlor in Wichita, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

She also will serve five years on federal supervised release.

Ping Liu, 44, Wichita, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted coercion and enticement to prostitution. In her plea, she admitted that during a phone conversation conducted in Mandarin Chinese she arranged for a woman posing as a job applicant from New York to come to Wichita to work at Q Massage, 3833 W. 13th in Wichita.

Liu told the applicant that the job included providing sexual services to customers. Liu told the applicant she would pick her up at the airport in Wichita.

In her plea, Liu also admitted twice offering to perform sexual services for undercover Wichita police officers who came to the massage parlor posing as customers.

Grissom commended the Wichita Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.

TOPEKA – Law enforcement and school district officials are investigating an on-line threat Wednesday at Topeka High School, according to a media release.

In response to the threat, USD 501 has dramatically increased security measures at the school building.

 

 

Topeka Police scope out the halls of Troy following yesterday’s threat to the school. pic.twitter.com/V8iPEeZZQY

— THS StuGo (@StugoThs) January 28, 2016

 

An additional three Topeka Public School officers as well as two Student Resource Officers from the Topeka Police Department were at the school Thursday morning, in addition to three Topeka Public School police officers typically in the building on a daily basis.

The eight police officers are on the interior of the building and on school grounds.

Topeka Police have also supported the school by adding six motorcycle unit officers who are working around the areas adjacent to the school.
A similar set up is planned for Friday, according to the school district.

DETROIT (AP) — Suzuki is recalling more than 68,000 motorcycles in the U.S. because the battery charging system can fail and cause the bikes to stall.

The recall affects 15 models from the 2008 to 2012 model years.

The company says in documents filed with U.S. safety regulators that the problem was traced to a circuit board in the charging system. One customer filed a complaint in the U.S., but more than 200 complaints were received from other countries.

Dealers will replace the charging system regulator-rectifier to fix the problem. Suzuki will notify owners and begin the recall repairs in early March at no cost to owners.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — The family of a Salina man who died after an altercation at a county jail says his drug and alcohol addictions contributed to his death.

The family of 50-year-old Scott Brunson said in a statement Wednesday that it supports law enforcement agencies investigating his death.

Brunson died Tuesday after two Saline County Jail corrections officers fought with him while he was being booked into jail. Police say Brunson was combative at the jail.

The Salina Journal reports the family said blood tests showed Brunson had cocaine, methamphetamine and alcohol in his system. The statement said hospital officials told the family Brunson appears to have suffered from cardiac arrest.

One officer was treated and released and the other was hospitalized for observation after the altercation.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas Student Senate has voted not to begin impeachment proceedings against three student leaders.

The senate voted Wednesday night to allow President Jessie Pringle, Vice President Zach George and Chief of Staff Adam Moon to remain in office.

Last November, a senate committee demanded the three be impeached, largely because of what was seen as their reluctance to support demands to promote diversity on the campus.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports  an impeachment committee found no allegations of misconduct against the three. The report also said their impeachment would set a dangerous precedent of removing officers from office because they aren’t popular.

After the impeachment efforts began last year, the three students released a list of diversity-related proposals they intend to pursue.

JUNCTION CITY – Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a shooting death.

David Phillips, 24, Manhattan, was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound at an apartment in the 800 Block of West 12th Street in Junction City late Monday night, according to a media release from Junction City Police.

Police made two arrests on Wednesday in connection with the case. Gabrielle “Gabby” Williams, 19, Junction City and Joseph “DoDa” Craig, 24, of Junction City were taken into custody.

Craig was arrested on charges alleging Felony Murder, Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Intimidation of a witness and Conspiracy.
Williams was arrested on charges alleging Felony Murder, Aggravated Robbery and Conspiracy.

Both are being held at the Geary County Detention Center pending first appearance in District Court.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A former suburban Kansas City credit union employee has admitted to embezzling more than $34,000.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 25-year-old Susan Wooten-Robb pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire fraud. She is a former worker at the Community America Credit Union in Overland Park.

In February 2014, two account holders complained about unauthorized debits from their accounts.

Prosecutors say that in one instance, she attempted to cover up an unauthorized debit by filing a false currency transaction report. In it, she claimed the account holders took out the money to assist a family member with paying tuition.

She faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentencing will be set for a later date.

MCPHERSON, Kan. (AP) — A 15-year-old student in Kansas has been charged after another student found a threatening note in a school restroom.

The Salina Journal reports that the student is charged with aggravated criminal threat and faces discipline by McPherson High School.

The McPherson Police Department says the student could face additional charges, and other students might be charged.

Police say the student named in the note didn’t have involvement in its creation or dissemination.

Other students’ response in sharing portions of the note has prompted more school security.

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MCPHERSON. – A 15-year-old McPherson student has been arrested in association with a note which was found in the bathroom of the high school on Tuesday, according to a media release.

A student found the note in the boys restroom which was threatening in nature. That prompted the investigation Tuesday and Wednesday.

Police says they were concerned because some of the contents of the note were sent out by other students and that warranted an increase in having a police presence at the school, if nothing else, for peace of mind.

Students believed to be responsible for the note and its contents were detained and interviewed leading to the arrest of the 15-year-old. Information has been forwarded to the McPherson County Attorney who will decide what formal charges should be filed if any. Police say others may also charged in the case as well.

Any disciplinary action such as suspension or expulsion will be up to the USD 418 administrators.

Police credit a student and a wise parent who they say acted on observation of suspicious activity and reported it to law enforcement.

Name of the teen arrested was not released and police say no other information will be released at this time.

LANSING, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prison worker has pleaded no contest to smuggling methamphetamine.

The Kansas City Star reports that prosecutors announced Wednesday that 60-year-old Jacqueline Doty, of Fort Scott, had entered a plea in the case.

Court documents say she was arrested in June 2014 after she was searched at the Lansing Correctional Facility and found to be carrying about 14 bags containing meth.

Prosecutors said the bags were hidden in a “girdle-type undergarment” Doty was wearing, with large bandages wrapped around her midsection to hide them. One of the bags held about 14 grams of meth.

Doty told investigators that she had brought drugs into the prison on multiple occasions.

by DAN MARGOLIES

Anticipating strong patient demand, The University of Kansas Hospital plans to add four floors to the Cambridge North Patient Tower now under construction just northeast of the hospital complex in Kansas City, Kan.

The tower was originally conceived as a seven-story building with 92 beds and 12 operating rooms expected to be completed in 2017. In a statement, Bob Page, KU Hospital’s president and CEO, said that when the new floors are completed in 2018, one floor with 32 beds will be ready for immediate patient occupancy. The other three will be finished as future demand dictates.

The expansion will add $50 million to the original $270 million tab for the

building, which is at 39th and Cambridge streets. The hospital, however, said it will not up the ante on the $100 million it’s seeking in private philanthropic money to help foot the bill.

So far, it said, private donors have pledged more than $42 million.

The building will house two of the hospital’s fastest growing specialties, neurosciences and surgical oncology.

Dan Margolies, is editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.