KANSAS CITY, Kan. — U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids underscored her opposition to federal Medicaid cuts Friday and called out “failure of leadership” in Topeka for the Legislature’s refusal to expand Kansas’ Medicaid program. Davids, a fourth-term Democrat, voted Tuesday against what she called a “partisan bill,” referring to a budget measure that cleared the U.S. House by a thin margin. The measure could include nearly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years. Appearing Friday at a family health clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, Davids and local advocates emphasized the dire consequences of cutting Medicaid funding. Earlier in the week , state advocates gathered reporters at the Statehouse in Topeka to condemn the proposed cuts and bring awareness to their potential impacts on Kansans. Davids said she would continue to vote against Medicaid cuts and added her support for Medicaid expansion in Kansas, which has been repeatedly blocked by Republican leadership. “I would go so far as to say we’re seeing a failure of leadership in Topeka,” Davids said. “There is overwhelming support from communities across our state, and this is not a partisan issue.” More than 427,000 Kansans rely on Medicaid for health insurance coverage, and an estimated three out of five births in the state are covered under Medicaid. Children, seniors and people with disabilities are expected to be the most affected by cuts. Rural Kansans are also likely to be more at risk because of already precarious rural hospitals, said Davids, who represents Kansas’ 3rd District that encompasses Anderson, Franklin, Johnson and Miami counties and half of Wyandotte County. An estimated 150,000 more Kansans would be eligible for Medicaid coverage if it was expanded. The proposed cuts include limits on the amount of federal dollars delivered to states based on how many people are enrolled in Medicaid, called per capita caps. Medicaid expansion tends to result in higher enrollment rates. The states that have expanded their programs are likely to see higher per capita caps, and more federal funding, than the 10 states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid, said Rachel Neumann, the chief operating officer of an Ottawa-based disability services organization, COF Training Services. “So since Kansas is not one of those states, we would potentially be receiving less money during those per capita caps and be one of the smaller recipients of Medicaid dollars, which we’re already pretty limited on,” Neumann said. On top of cuts, enhanced subsidies that were implemented in 2021 under the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act are set to expire at the end of 2025, meaning those enrolled in the Affordable Care Act are likely to see at least 75% increases in their premium payments. Without enhanced subsidies, enrollment is expected to drop, with some people becoming wholly uninsured. The cuts are not just numbers on a budget, Neumann said. She added: “They represent real harm to real people.”
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