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.
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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