Kansas
Kansas uninsured rate remains worse than national average; 240K without health coverage • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Kansans are uninsured at a rate higher than the rest of the country for a third-straight year, but the effects of Medicaid “unwinding” have yet to be seen, recent U.S. Census Bureau data shows.
More than 240,000 Kansas residents are without health insurance, which translates to an uninsured rate of 8.4%, according to American Community Survey data, which was released Sept. 12.
The national uninsured rate is just below 8%, and 2023 is the third year in a row Kansas’ rate has exceeded the national one, according to the Kansas Health Institute, a Topeka-based nonpartisan research organization. However, the 2023 Kansas uninsured rate is an improvement from 2022, when it was at 8.6%.
“While the effects of policies such as the unwinding of the continuous enrollment provisions in Medicaid and the continuation of enhanced subsidies for the federally facilitated marketplace may have combined with other trends in 2023 to keep the uninsured rate steady for Kansans, we expect that those policy effects may not be fully seen until at least next year’s release,” said Kari Bruffett, KHI president and chief executive officer, in a news release.
COVID-19 policies required Medicaid programs to keep people continuously enrolled in their health insurance until the end of the public health emergency unless the person moved away, died or requested to end coverage. During that time, enrollment in KanCare, as Medicaid is known in Kansas, increased from 410,000 to 540,000 people.
Beginning in April 2023, states began “unwinding” these pandemic-era protections, which, in Kansas, resulted in roughly 114,000 people losing coverage as of August. Kansas completed its unwinding in May.
“In addition, the data tell us that wide disparities in insurance coverage continued in 2023, and data that will be released this fall will allow us to describe more completely the experiences of Kansans across the state,” Buffett said.
Latino Kansans were uninsured in 2023 at a rate of 20%, which was four percentage points higher than the national uninsured rate among Latinos. Nearly 11% of Black Kansans were uninsured in 2023 while white Kansans were uninsured at a rate of nearly 6%. People with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, which was about $30,000 annually for a family of four in 2023, were uninsured at a rate of nearly 17%, according to the survey data.
Kansas is one of 10 U.S. states that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility requirements to include most adults who make up to 138% of the federal poverty threshold. That’s $20,783 or less for an individual and no more than $43,056 for a family of four. In Kansas, the eligibility requirements to qualify for KanCare are much more stringent. Children, their parents, pregnant women, seniors and people with disabilities qualify for KanCare if their household income falls within varying levels of the poverty threshold. Parents qualify for coverage if their yearly earnings are less than 38% of the federal poverty threshold, which is about $11,900 or less for a family of four in 2024.
Nationally, the uninsured rate for those making less than 138% of the poverty threshold “significantly decreased” in 2023, but Kansas’ decrease wasn’t significant, KHI said.
In February, KHI estimated a Medicaid expansion plan proposed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would provide coverage to 152,000 low-income Kansans, including 45,000 children, with no net cost to the state for eight years. The GOP-led Legislature blocked the plan from advancing.
The Kansas and national uninsured rates are both at their lowest since 2009, according to the survey data. Uninsured rates in Kansas and the rest of the country peaked in 2010 at nearly 14% and 15.5% respectively.
KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas, including Olathe and Lenexa. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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If the motto to live by is to get 1 hour of movement a day, the Parkinson’s community in Kansas City is exceeding it.
Bob Zipse has been fighting Parkinson’s for 10 years. He said the diagnosis hit him hard.
Leawood’s Parkinson’s Exercise and Wellness Center expands services as diagnoses climb
“I was super depressed. I mean, I was in a chair. Did you want to move? Look around, just horrible. Because there’s no resources. Where do I go with the time?”
Zipse said the disease can be an isolating experience.
KSHB
“Parkinson’s, I say, is a very lonely, lonely disease. Either people don’t want to deal with you, or you’re embarrassing.”
He found the Parkinson’s Exercise and Wellness Center at his lowest point. Now, he sees people around him pushing past their limits.
“You see people out here, they’re in the mid-70s, they’re doing push-ups, sit-ups, lifting weights. I mean, it’s amazing, really,” Zipse said. “In here, we’re all the same.”
Sarissa Curry founded the center after seeing the power of healing through exercise and recognizing that diagnosis rates were increasing. An aging population and younger diagnoses are among the biggest factors driving that trend.
Kansas consistently ranks as having one of the highest Parkinson’s disease diagnoses and mortality rates in the United States, second only to Nebraska. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, an estimated 20,000 people in the Kansas City metro alone are living with the disease.
“You see your neurologist once every six months to a year, and you see a physical therapist maybe a couple of months out of the year. Community-based programs are here every day to support this community,” Curry said.
Curry said the warning signs of rising Parkinson’s rates have been visible for years.
“They have been predicting this increase in Parkinson’s for many years. They were able to see the writing on the wall, they were able to see how the population was aging, and they knew that this was coming. We paid attention.”
She expanded the center to serve as an all-encompassing resource for people like Zipse.
KSHB
“I’d hate to wager what I would have been like. Life would have stopped for me, I think. This at least gives me hope, gives me some work towards and see some benefit of it,” Zipse said.
The PEWC will host a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, June 3, at 3:30 p.m. The community is invited to attend to learn more about the center’s services and the disease as incidence rates continue to rise each year.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Two men were arrested following a lengthy Reno County Sheriff’s Office investigation into several burglaries and thefts in the area.
Garson Stanley Boyles was arrested May 21, and Jimmy Ray Miller was arrested May 27. Both were arrested on suspicion of 11 counts of burglary, five counts of criminal damage to property and four counts of theft.
The sheriff’s office said numerous stolen items have been recovered, including a vehicle. Investigators said several items remain missing.
Anyone with information about the location of stolen property is asked to contact the Reno County Sheriff’s Office at 620-694-2735. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call Reno County Crime Stoppers at 620-694-2666 or 800-222-TIPS.
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