Topeka Capital-Journal. January 26, 2024.
Editorial: Speaker Hawkins, show us. Put Medicaid expansion bill to a vote in Kansas House.
Kansas Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, says there aren’t enough votes to expand Medicaid in Kansas and so he won’t put it to a floor vote.
“I know my votes,” Hawkins told reporters after Gov. Kelly’s State of the State address. “I know the votes in the House, and I can tell you there is not enough votes to pass. People say, ‘Well, put it out for a vote.’ I never put anything up for a vote unless it’s going to pass. You don’t ever see us put stuff out there just to watch it die. We put things up that’s going to pass, and I can tell you right now there are not 63 votes for Medicaid expansion.”
We dare Speaker Hawkins to put up or shut up.
The Topeka Capital-Journal’s Jason Alatidd and Jack Harvel report two bills for Medicaid expansion have been introduced — one in the House Appropriations Committee by House Minority Leader Vic Miller, D-Topeka, and one in the Senate Ways and Means Committee by Sen. Pat Pettey, D-Kansas City.
By introducing the bills in budget committees instead of health committees, the bills are now exempt from session deadlines. Let’s advance one of these bills to the floor. Put it up for a vote.
Hawkins might be right. A vote for Medicaid expansion might go down in flames. It would let — finally — Kansans know where their legislators stand on an important issue.
Let’s see which lawmaker votes for and against, and let’s hope they can explain why. They owe that to their constituents. Voters need to know how lawmakers would act on this legislation. Hawkins has said putting the bill up for a vote isn’t necessary because, “We’re not in the business of proving a point.”
We beg to differ. We think Hawkins owes it to Kansans to prove said point.
Gov. Laura Kelly — who has pushed for Medicaid expansion since becoming governor — seems to think it’ll pass. The two-term Democratic governor in a primarily red state seems to have a pretty good handle on what Kansans think.
“The legislature should listen to the over 70% of Kansans who support Medicaid Expansion and give this bill a hearing by Kansas Day,” she said in a statement.
Many believe Medicaid expansion would help the health care situation in our state, rural hospitals and the many Kansans who are falling through the cracks.
What’s the harm, Speaker? If you’re that confident it’ll fail, you get to show — on the record — that you were right.
If you’re wrong and Medicaid expansion passes, more Kansans will have access to affordable health care.
We’ll take that wager any day.
END