(March 16, 2023) – Today, the House Welfare Reform Committee, chaired by Representative Francis Awerkamp (R-St Marys), held a hearing on House Bill 2179. The legislation removes non-cooperation with child support from disqualifications for child care assistance. The committee amended the bill to have penalties associated with a lack of compliance with child support. Tanya Keys, Kansas Department of Children and Family Services, supported the amendment. The bill was recommended favorably for passage as amended and now goes before the House.
The committee also heard an update from Medicaid Director Sarah Fertig and Christine Osterman. Fertig gave a background on Medicaid and the difference between that program to other coverage and an overview of covered services. She highlighted the current federal match assistance percentage is currently about 59-60 percent, with 30-40 percent received from state funds. She discussed the legislative role in the changes made to Medicaid and used the example of expanding coverage for postpartum women passed in 2022.
Fertig discussed the differences between the Kansas Department of Health and Environment oversight and Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. She also highlighted Medicaid expansion is for those Kansans who have a low income but don't have the extra qualifying criteria, people 18-65 and for households with income up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Fertig noted the FMAP percentage for that population is a 90 percent federal/ 10 percent state match, emphasizing the changes made at the federal level would add 5 percent extra FMAP on the base Medicaid population for two years, bringing in about $372-450 million dollars over two years, enough to cover the state's 10 percent state match over several years.
The committee asked Fertig the following questions:
- About the dual-eligible population for Medicare and Medicaid
- How assets factor into Medicaid eligibility
- How many people would be covered under Medicaid expansion
- How expansion would benefit mental health needs
- About the wait lists for waiver services and how Medicaid could benefit those services
- If hospice care is covered by Medicaid
- How do waivers get reallocated
- How many doctors or hospitals accept Medicaid patients