This is what we know about healthcare: Its making us sick at least figuratively.
News that Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott will be shuttered at years end is sending shockwaves through neighboring communities.
Is Allen County Regional in danger? If so, what can be done?
First off, in less than five weeks are the midterm elections.
Right then and there vote for a governor who supports expanding Medicaid, the state/federal program that provides health insurance for the poor. If expanded, it would cover an additional 152,000 Kansans.
One reason rural hospitals, especially, are suffering is because they cannot get reimbursed for the care they give to the poor, which then must be written off as an unpaid expense, a debt.
Allen Countys poverty is disproportionately high 15.4 percent, compared to the state average of 11.9 percent. About 20 percent of our children live in poverty, against a state average of 14 percent.
For each year that Medicaid expansion has lain by the wayside, Allen County Regional Hospital has had to write off more than $1 million in expenses for the uncompensated care it gives to the poor. That is a losing game plan.
In Fort Scott, hospital officials said Medicaid expansion would have positively affected about 6 percent of its patients.
Typically, these are low-wage workers who cannot afford to buy health insurance on the open market, but do not qualify for Medicaid because they earn too much. In Kansas, a family of three cannot live on more than $8,000 a year and qualify for its benefits.
Candidates supporting Medicaid expansion are Democrat Laura Kelly and Independent Greg Orman. Kris Kobach, Republican, is against it.
In 2017, Kansas legislators approved Medicaid expansion, only to have then-governor Sam Brownback veto it.
So yes, it matters who represents us in Topeka.
SECOND, use your local hospital.
A recent hospital report showed that of its patients, only 29 percent hail from Allen County. That could be better.
