Kansas

Kansas uninsured rate remains worse than national average; 240K without health coverage • Kansas Reflector

Published

1 year ago

September 18, 2024

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.

Source link

Click to comment

Kansas

Chiefs President: New team facilities in Olathe will connect with schools, city

Published

59 minutes ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

Chiefs President: New team facilities in Olathe will connect with schools, city

KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She’s reported on the Chiefs’ decision to move its team facility to Olathe since the team made the announcement in December. That coverage has included amplifying the voices of residents who have different perspectives on the project, which has ranged from excitement to scrutiny. Share your story idea with Elyse.

—

Kansas City Chiefs President Mark Donovan said Friday the team is drawing inspiration from recent team headquarters projects with the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys as they develop plans for their own new headquarters in Olathe.

In December, the club reached an agreement with Kansas officials to move across the state line. The agreement called for a $3 billion, domed stadium in western Kansas City, Kansas, and a new team headquarters and practice facility near Kansas Highway 10 and Ridgeview Road in Olathe.

Donovan’s remarks on Friday came during the Olathe Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center.

Elyse Schoenig/KSHB

The Olathe Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting on Friday, March 6, 2026, at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center.

The chamber’s theme for 2026, “Olathe Rising,” appears well-timed as the Chiefs work to build out their team headquarters vision.

Donovan said the team and its partners have been busy behind the scenes and hope to have updates on the project in the near future.

He said the club will look to work with the Olathe School District and the Olathe City Council in their plans.

The club is exploring a unique component to the facility by incorporating flag football into the project.

Flag football has been a priority of the club and the National Football League. The sport will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

In April, the Kansas State High School Athletics Association is set to vote on whether to sanction girls’ flag football as a high school varsity sport.

Funding for the club’s Olathe project will come in part from the sale of bonds paid for by certain sales tax revenues.

In February, the Olathe City Council approved participation in a STAR bonds district to build the team’s new headquarters and training facility at College Boulevard and Ridgeview Road.

Elsewhere on Friday, Kansas legislators introduced the Kansas Sports Authority Act. The act would create a nine-member board to oversee all aspects of sports facility construction.

—

Source link

Kansas

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

Published

1 day ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A former Kansas wrestling coach was charged with creating child sexual abuse materials by secretly recording minors showering during an athletic competition.

According to court documents, 37-year-old Ryan Brungardt of Salina is charged with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.

Brungardt is a former employee at Lakewood Middle School and former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School.

Brungardt is accused of using a cellphone to record three minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament was held at Newton High in January 2024.

Brungardt made his initial court appearance for the criminal complaint on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooks G. Severson.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday

Investigators are in the process of reviewing additional seized cellphone videos in this case that are suspected to have been recorded at wrestling meets in Newton, Hays, Garden City and Salina during the 2023-2024 wrestling season.

Anyone who believes they witnessed crimes or any suspicious activity at these events is asked to contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 600-8790 or report at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.

Source link