TOPEKA — The Republican majority in the Kansas House stiff-armed Tuesday the latest in a long series of attempts by Democrats to expand eligibility for Medicaid to at least 120,000 lower-income Kansans.
The minority party attempted to amend expansion into a state budget bill because GOP leadership in the House had successfully blocked bills in committee that would commit the state to a bigger Medicaid program under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The amendment offered by Overland Park Rep. Brett Parker was rejected 46-78, after Republicans tried to avoid the public vote through a procedural maneuver.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has made Medicaid expansion a top policy priority. She also proposed the state’s share of expansion costs could be covered by revenue from passage of a medicinal marijuana law.
