(The Associated Press contributed to this article)
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has vetoed a bill that would have extended the state’s health coverage for the poor under former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
The conservative Republican governor made the move Thursday. He explained that he thinks the expansion would fail to serve the truly needy and would burden the state with what he called “unrestrainable entitlement costs.”
The bill would have expanded Medicaid coverage to as many as 180,000 additional adults.
Legislators gave final approval to the measure Tuesday. It had strong bipartisan majorities in both chambers, but supporters were short of the two-thirds majorities necessary to override a veto. As of Thursday afternoon, the vote to override had been postponed.
State senator Tom Hawk, a Manhattan democrat who represents Riley, Clay, and a part of Geary county, said he “remains optimistic.”
While supporters of the veto tried to speed up an override vote on Thursday morning, Hawk said the senate has 60 days to take a vote. Just a day away from a month long recess, Hawk said his hope is legislators will go out and listen to their constituents’ wishes at town hall meetings. Hawk will be at a Legislative Coffee at Sunset Zoo on Saturday morning, where he said he expects to hear the concerns of many.
“I’m hoping and thinking we’ll get the 27 votes to take care of our constituents,” Hawk said. “That’s what we need now if the Governor’s not gonna be a party to the problem solving.”
Hawk was also critical of the Governor’s written response to the veto, where he falsely said Medicaid dollars would fund Planned Parenthood abortions in Kansas. According to Hawk, Gov. Brownback has a habit of using his leadership to spread negativity.
“I am concerned about that as a tactic the governor used to try and imply that this was an abortion bill in the style of his veto message.”
A January 2017 poll done by the American Cancer Society indicates 82% of Kansans favor Medicaid expansion, which is a significant increase from a March 2016 poll done by the Kansas Hospital Association, where only 62% were in support of accepting the federal aid. However, for Hawk, the issue is also a matter of common sense.
Under the 2010 ACA law signed by Obama, states were granted opportunity to widen eligibility for Medicaid with the federal government paying 100 percent of increased costs through 2016. The federal share drops to 95 percent in 2017 and 90 percent by 2020. But Brownback’s administration still sees an expansion as potentially costly.
According to a study done by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kansas has missed out on more than $26 billion in federal funding since 2013. Hawk indicated by 2019, the state would receive more than $1 billion in federal funds — money that Kansas taxpayers have already contributed. Hawk did indicate the state would have to budget for a larger payment to the federal government, although they would receive upwards of $75 million in return.
Hawk said his peers in the senate need to work toward compromise in order to get the necessary votes for an override, and ultimately help Kansans. Rural hospitals such as the ones found in Hawk’s district would benefit from the federal money by funding emergency room visits and insuring more people.
“In the end to turn our backs on people — where the result is misery, and suffering, and death — that’s not an option for me.”
Supporters of Medicaid expansion were emboldened earlier in the week after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to vote on a bill which would repeal and replace the ACA. Hawk said in the event the congress eventually replaces Obamacare, Kansas would be best-suited to expand Medicaid now to qualify for more money under a future block grant system.
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