November 2, 2007
Did you know...?
KS Legislative Update…
Health reform options presented to the Governor and Legislature Nov 1, 2007.
The state agency charged with developing and maintaining a coordinated health policy agenda for the
state has finalized its recommendations. The Kansas Health Policy Authority (KHPA) Board presented a long awaited report of their 21 recommended health reform options to the Kansas Legislature at the Joint Committee on Health Policy Oversight meeting today. Governor Kathleen Sebelius also received the report.
“These Kansas health reform recommendations are the result of months of reviewing potential health
reform options and meeting with over 1,000 Kansans,” Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH, Executive Director of the
Kansas Health Policy Authority, told the Joint Committee.
Nielsen says that these recommendations are intended to achieve three important health goals:
Encourage the promotion of personal responsibility;
Pay for prevention and promote medical homes;
Provide and protect affordable health insurance.
“Enacting these recommendations will transform the Kansas health system, lower costs and make Kansas a healthier state.”
The report outlines each option, including description of policy, costs and who is impacted. With the
completion of this report, the KHPA Board has made strategic recommendations to the Legislature and the
Governor, and decisions about health reform are now in the hands of policymakers.
These options are expected to decrease the number of uninsured by 86,000 Kansans and result in greatly
improved health status.
Nielsen continued, “It is now time for lawmakers to be engaged with us on this issue. We cannot
passively sit by and watch the federal government not act. We need to take action now. I encourage all Kansans
to voice their support for these options. Contact your legislator and let them know what you want in Kansas
health care.”
The recommended policy options are as follows:
Promoting Personal Responsibility
• Transparency for consumers: Health care cost & quality transparency project
• Promote health literacy
Promoting Medical Homes and Paying for Prevention
• Define medical home
• Increase Medicaid provider reimbursement
• Implement statewide Community Health Record
• Promote insurance card standardization
· Increase tobacco user fee
• Statewide ban on smoking in public places
• Partner with community organizations
• Include Commissioner of Education on KHPA Board
• Collect information on health/fitness of Kansas school children
• Promote healthy food choices in schools
• Increase Physical Education (PE)
• Wellness grant program for small businesses
• Healthier food options for state employees
• Provide dental care for pregnant women
• Improve tobacco cessation within Medicaid
• Expand cancer screenings
Provide and Protect Affordable Health Insurance
• Cover more kids through aggressive marketing and outreach to enroll already eligible children
• Expand premium assistance to include childless adults up to 100% FPL
• Assisting small businesses by establishing a health insurance clearinghouse and other strategies
The report is available at www.khpa.ks.gov.
Kansas policymakers are interested in steps being taken by their counterparts in Missouri to make it easier for employers to offer health coverage to their workers. This summary of Missouri’s reform legislation was prepared for the Kansas Health Policy Authority.
During the 2007 legislative session, the Missouri General Assembly passed two bills pertaining to
health coverage that were subsequently signed into law by Governor Matt Blunt:
• House Bill (H.B.) 818: The Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act — making
changes to group health insurance coverage; and
• Senate Bill (S.B.) 577: The Missouri Continuing Health Improvement Act of 2007 —
modifying the state’s Medicaid program.
Initially hailed as major reform initiatives, the bills were changed significantly during the
legislative process and as a result are more limited than as originally drafted. Nonetheless, they make
important changes that address the dual challenges of rising health care costs and a growing number of
uninsured in the state.
To read the complete report, point your browser to the Kansas Health Institute page at: http://khi.org/ and click on the link to Health Reform in Kansas: Looking East to Missouri.
To learn more about services OHS-COMPCARE has to offer, contact our Client Services Team at (816) 559-6306 or by e-mail at customerservice@ohscompcare.com. You can also visit us at www.ohscompcare.com.
*Please feel free to forward this information to any member of management in your company who would benefit from it.*
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