Kansas
Kansas official rejects appeal by unsuccessful bidders on state's $4 billion KanCare contract • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Administration’s procurement director rejected complaints submitted by Aetna Better Health and CareSource Kansas that alleged misconduct in selection of three managed-care companies to operate the state’s $4 billion Medicaid program.
Separate protests by the unsuccessful bidders were denied, meaning decisions by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to enter into contracts with Sunflower Health Plan, United Healthcare Community Plan and Healthy Blue could go forward. The immediate outcome was Healthy Blue replaced Aetna Better Health.
Both challenges questioned KDHE’s system of scoring applicants for the KanCare contract. They invited scrutiny of Healthy Blue’s corporate lineage to Amerigroup, which had been dropped from the state’s Medicaid program in 2018. Issues were raised about potential conflicts of interest among personnel linked to Healthy Blue, which is affiliated with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. From 2021 to 2024, BCBS Kansas hired a handful of people who had worked in the administration of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly or the Kansas Legislature.
Todd Herman, director of procurement and contracts in the Department of Administration, informed attorneys representing CareSource and Aetna Better Health that their appeal had been denied. Documents that Herman sent to the two failed bidders were comparable in that both concluded KDHE’s process adhered to Kansas law and the outcome was based on objective evaluation of sealed bids that answered to the state’s 450-page request for proposals.
“The state of Kansas followed the negotiated procurement process permitted by state statute,” he said in the explanatory document sent to Aetna Better Care. “The awarding of a contract to United Healthcare, Sunflower and Healthy Blue … is supported by the facts.”
Kelly not involved
Herman said the burden of proof was on the protesting company to demonstrate the procurement process was fatally flawed, and neither complaint satisfied that requirement.
In terms of the Healthy Blue contract award being tainted by BCBS Kansas’ hiring of four people who previously worked in state government, Herman said movement of staff to the private sector didn’t result in favoritism or conflicts of interest.
“The state’s governmental ethics laws are specific to the individual,” Herman said. “They do not require a state contract to be declared invalid or should not be awarded to a specific vendor due to an individual leaving employment with the state of Kansas and going to work for a vendor who becomes a state contractor.”
Herman said the current governor had no part in the KanCare procurement process. He said neither Kelly nor her staff reviewed the sealed bids. He said it was folly for Aetna Better Health to claim Kelly’s political advocacy for expansion of Medicaid eligibility in some way disadvantaged the company.
The letters sent to Aetna Better Health and CareSource listed shortcomings of proposals made by those companies, which included problems with describing ways to improve services to about 450,000 Kansans enrolled in Medicaid.
Adam Proffitt, secretary of the Department of Administration, told a joint House and Senate Medicaid oversight committee the decisions by Herman would be considered the “final agency action” because no other mechanism existed for an administrative appeal.
‘Arbitrary, capricious’
Jane Brown, president and CEO of Aetna Better Health, said it was the company’s position KDHE deployed an “arbitrary and capricious” process to break its scoring tie with Healthy Blue. She said KDHE unfairly fabricated grading criteria after bids from the seven applicants were submitted. She also said the exit of Aetna Better Health from Kansas Medicaid program would be disruptive to about 100,000 Kansans.
Chad Moore, president of CareSource Kansas, said Healthy Blue should have been disqualified early in the bidding process due to “significant conflict of interest concerns” involving BCBS Kansas.
However, Herman’s written reply to CareSource said arguments put forth by the company to challenge the contract decision were “insufficient to warrant the remedies being sought.”
Herman said the new three-year contracts were in the best interests of the state and the implementation process would proceed ahead of the effective data Jan. 1, 2025.
Companies losing an administrative appeal in Kansas may file lawsuits in an attempt to secure a verdict affirming flaws in the KDHE process. In 2018, Amerigroup challenged its ouster from the KanCare program, which lost its spot to Aetna. Amerigroup failed at the administrative and court levels.
Under Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas privatized the state’s Medicaid program in 2013. The collection of three contractors was shuffled by Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer five years later. As the Kelly administration prepared to issue new contracts for management of the KanCare program, the GOP-led Legislature forbid her from proceeding. The intent was to see if Republican governor candidate Derek Schmidt could defeat Kelly in November 2022 and enable a Republican governor to again pick KanCare contractors.
Kansas
Salvador Perez attended the Ecaudor-Curaçao match at Arrowhead. So did other royals — from the Netherlands
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals captain Salvador Perez, along with teammates Starling Marte and Carter Jensen, attended Saturday evening’s World Cup match at Arrowhead Stadium.
So did some other royals!
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands began Saturday by cheering the Dutch past Sweden in Houston.
The monarchs ended the day by watching Curacao make some history against Ecuador in Kansas City.
The small island nation of Curacao is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and that makes King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima the heads of state. So, after a quick flight north Saturday, the royal couple dutifully swapped out their bright orange scarves of Het Oranje Legioen they wore to their earlier match with bright blue ones for The Blue Wave.
Curacao, the smallest World Cup team in population and size, made its tournament debut last Sunday in a 7-1 loss to Germany. But it bounced back from that defeat to earn a 0-0 draw with La Tri and earn its first-ever point in the tournament.
“It is an extra-special World Cup because we have both the Netherlands and Curacao,” Willem-Alexander told RTL-TV. “So we have twice as many teams to cheer for. A great opportunity to cheer on both the Blues and the Oranges. All in all, it will be a special World Cup for me with two teams, and I naturally hope they go extremely far.”
The Netherlands moved one step closer to the World Cup knockout round after a 5-1 win over Sweden.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals apiece to help coach Ronald Koeman’s team bounce back from a disappointing draw in its opener and move atop Group F. The Netherlands concludes group play against Tunisia on Thursday in Kansas City.
Curacao is still alive, too, after Eloy Room made 15 saves — one off the World Cup record — to earn a draw with Ecuador. It concludes Group E play on Thursday against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia at the same time Ecuador is playing Germany in New York.
It is quite rare for sitting monarchs to come through the area. Queen Ann of Romania attended the dedication of the Liberty Memorial, which is where Kansas City is holding its World Cup FanFest, in the 1920s, while King Gustav XVI of Sweden made a stop in the small Kansas town of Lindsborg when he was passing through the Midwest in the 1970s.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Kansas
1 man dies after being shot June 9 in Kansas City, Missouri; police working to identify person of interest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is working to identify a person(s) of interest in a June 9 shooting that led to the death of one victim.
Police were called around 6 a.m. on June 9 to the area of Independence and Monroe avenues in Kansas City, Missouri.
Responding officers found an unresponsive man behind a residence in that area. He was transported to the hospital for life-threatening injuries, per KCPD.
Police were notified Friday night that the shooting victim died.
KCPD said Saturday “detectives have made headway identifying subject(s) of interest.”
Anyone with information on the incident is encouraged to call KCPD Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline at 816-474-8477.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
Kansas
1 man killed, 5 others wounded in mass shooting Friday night near East 19th and Vine streets in KCMO
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One person was shot to death and five others were wounded by gunfire Friday night in the 18th and Vine Historic District in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said officers were in the area of East 18th Street and Paseo about 10:30 p.m. when they heard gunshots.
The officers moved to East 19th Street between the Paseo and Vine Street to check for shooting victims, according to a police department news release.
They found one man who had been shot and was unresponsive, along with two women who had been shot.
The man was declared dead at the scene.
One of the women suffered serious gunshot wounds and the other woman suffered non life-threatening wounds, according to the police department news release.
Officers at the shooting scene were notified three more shooting victims from the same area had been taken to a hospital by a private vehicle.
An adult male and female were reported in stable condition late Friday, while a second adult male suffered critical gunshot wounds, according to police.
Police said their preliminary investigation revealed the victims were standing on 19th Street between Vine and Paseo when people began shooting in several directions.
All the shooting victims were hit by gunfire in that area, according to police.
No word on what led to the mass shooting and at least one murder.
This is a developing story and will be updated when new information is available.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
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