Here’s why Kansas House speaker won’t allow a vote on Laura Kelly Medicaid expansion bill

Medicaid expansion legislation has now been introduced in the Kansas Legislature, but it is unlikely to receive a floor vote in the House or Senate, let alone a committee hearing.

House Minority Leader Vic Miller, D-Topeka, introduced a Medicaid expansion bill Wednesday in the House Appropriations Committee.

House Appropriations Chair Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, said he believed the bill should be introduced in the House Health and Human Services Committee but held a vote on introducing it in appropriations. The committee ultimately voted to allow the introduction of the bill in a 9-8 vote.

Also on Wednesday, Sen. Pat Pettey, D-Kansas City, introduced a Medicaid expansion bill in the Senate Ways and Means Committee without objection.

By introducing the bills in budget committees instead of health committees, the bills are now exempt from session deadlines. But Gov. Laura Kelly wants the bills acted upon much sooner.

“The legislature should listen to the over 70% of Kansans who support Medicaid Expansion and give this bill a hearing by Kansas Day,” Kelly said in a statement.

GOP leadership won’t put Medicaid expansion up for a vote

Kelly, a Democrat, has claimed that there are enough supporters of Medicaid expansion that it would pass if Republican leadership allowed it to get a vote.

“I believe that if the issue were put to a vote today, the majority of you in this chamber would support it,” she told legislators in her State of the State address last week. “Yet there are some who are so adamantly opposed to expansion that they won’t even give you the opportunity to debate and to vote.”

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, told reporters after the speech that he won’t allow a vote on Medicaid expansion.

“I know my votes,” Hawkins said. “I know the votes in the House, and I can tell you there is not enough votes to pass. People say, ‘Well, put it out for a vote.’ I never put anything up for a vote unless it’s going to pass. You don’t ever see us put stuff out there just to watch it die. We put things up that’s going to pass, and I can tell you right now there are not 63 votes for Medicaid expansion.”

He said he won’t put it up for a vote to prove the point because “we’re not in the business of proving a point.”

While the governor’s State of the State speech frequently elicited applause from Democrats, the clapping was often far more tepid on the Republican side of the aisle. That was especially the case with Medicaid expansion, which got a standing ovation from Democrats but nearly zero applause from Republicans.

Kelly’s Wednesday news release about the introduction of Medicaid expansion legislation did have supporting statements from five Republicans: Sens. Brenda Dietrich, of Topeka; Carolyn McGinn, of Sedgwick; and John Doll, of Garden City; and Reps. Susan Concannon, of Beloit; and David Younger, of Ulysses.

Democrats, Republicans disagree over benefits of Medicaid expansion

Kelly has argued that expanding Medicaid will provide access to health care for thousands of Kansans who have jobs, but their employer doesn’t provide health insurance and they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, which can result in them having no coverage.

“Health care coverage for 150,000 Kansans,” Kelly said. “Cost-savings for most everyone. We protect our rural hospitals. And Kansas taxpayers pay nothing extra? That’s a deal just about anyone would take.”

While the governor has cited polls showing strong public support for expanding Medicaid, Masterson said the response depends on how the question is asked.

“If you had read me the question in whatever that Fort Hays (State University) poll was, I think I might have answered yes,” he said. “You skewed the question. You go out and ask the question the right way, it is not a majority of Kansans.”

“The problem is 90% of the people out there don’t even know what Medicaid expansion does,” Hawkins said. “They think it’s helping the elderly; they think it’s helping the disabled. It doesn’t. Those populations are already taken care of.”

Hawkins said there should instead be an increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate, more funding for “safety net clinics” and addressing the intellectual and developmental disability waiver waiting list.

“There’s a lot of things that we want to do,” Hawkins said. “But Medicaid expansion is the governor’s deal. It’s not our deal. It’s just not.”

But Hawkins said GOP leadership isn’t introducing any bills on those issues. Masterson said those topics are generally addressed in the budget.