Kansas
Kansas Medicaid expansion debate to be revived when Legislature returns • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — In three weeks, senators will decide whether to give Medicaid expansion a full floor debate or block discussion of health insurance coverage for low-income Kansans for another year.
Lawmakers rushed to hammer out myriad policy pieces ranging from the tax code to K-12 education funding during a late-night marathon session before adjourning Saturday for three weeks. During the frenzied process, Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, introduced a motion to pull Senate Bill 355 to the floor for consideration.
The procedural move is designed to override the authority of Republican leadership who refuse to allow the bill to move forward through the usual process. The Sykes motion will require approval from 24 of the 40 senators.
“This is not a partisan issue, and over 70% of Kansans, regardless of party, support Medicaid expansion,” Sykes said. “Only a few extremists in the Legislature are standing in the way, so Kansans deserve to know where their legislators stand on Medicaid expansion. To quote Beyonce, let’s bring it to the floor now.”
The quote is an apparent reference to Beyonce’s song “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which contains the line, “Come take it to the floor now.”
Senators will consider the motion after they return later this month, with a vote scheduled for April 26.
Gathering 24 votes will be an uphill battle, given GOP leaders’ opposition to Medicaid expansion. Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins have characterized the program as a way to “expand the welfare state,” instead of helping the “truly needy.”
Medicaid expansion would expand health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty rate. Most of the estimated 152,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are self-employed, small business owners and their employees, or suffering from chronic illness.
Medicaid expansion would unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.
“The costs of everyday living continue to rise — including the cost of health care — and Kansas families are feeling it,”said April Holman, executive director of Alliance for a Healthy Kansas. “It is past time for Kansas lawmakers to listen to the people and enact policy change that will ease the burdens of these costs on Kansas families.”
Kansas is one of 10 states left that have not expanded Medicaid.
This session marked the first time in four years that GOP leaders allowed a Medicaid expansion bill to receive a committee hearing. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly applied pressure before the session with a statewide tour in which she promoted Medicaid expansion.
Democrats and health care advocates are hopeful this year’s election will place additional pressure on lawmakers to support Medicaid expansion. All 165 seats in the House and Senate are up for election, and polling shows bipartisan support for Medicaid expansion.
In a statement to voters Saturday, Kelly said, “Now is the time to make your voices heard.”
“I urge you to write, call, or meet with your legislators and encourage them to support expanding Medicaid by voting yes on this motion. We have the momentum to get this done this legislative session.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Wednesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.
WIBW Scoreboard
BOYS
6A Boys West Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Topeka High 57, Washburn Rural 50 (will play Maize Saturday)
- Junction City 70, Dodge City 56 (will play Derby Saturday)
- Manhattan 58, Wichita-Northwest 56 (will play Wichita-East Saturday)
4A Boys East Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rock Creek 62, Louisberg 57 (will play Bishop Miege Saturday)
- Atchison 74, Wamego 43
- Hayden 72, Independence 56 (will play Atchison Saturday)
- Eudora 76, Santa Fe Trail 68
GIRLS
5A West Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Hays 80, Topeka West 18
- Eisenhower 55, Seaman 41
- Kapaun Mt. Carmel 71, Emporia 41
5A East Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Shawnee Heights 89, Sumner 15 (will play Pittsburg Saturday)
- Basehor-Linwood 74, Highland Park 28 (will play Piper Saturday)
3A Pomona-West Franklin Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Osage City 75, Columbus 31 (will play Frontenac Saturday)
3A Sabetha Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Silver Lake 48, Nemaha Central 26 (will play Riley County Saturday)
- Riley County 51, Jeff West 40 (will play Silver Lake)
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.
WIBW Scoreboard
BOYS
5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
- Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)
5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
- Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
- Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)
3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)
3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
- Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)
GIRLS
6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
- Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
- Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)
4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
- Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
- Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)
2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
- Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
- Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.
The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.
The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
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