A late, largely unnoticed addition to the budget bill that was approved in the final days of this year’s legislative session appears to be a boon for a Kansas company that sells access to a computer program intended to help elementary students learn to read.

School administrators at small, rural districts around the state say they are alarmed and confounded by the looming, new costs they face with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Medicaid services for the disabled in Kansas have been undergoing dramatic changes in the past 18 months and in response many smaller providers of so-called “payroll agent” or “financial management services” for disabled persons who prefer to hire their own care attendants are either changing their business models or simply going out of business.

Kansas insurance companies are preparing to sell a range of health plans on a new, online marketplace being created by the federal government. But large numbers of Americans who stand to benefit most from the marketplaces still know little to nothing about the law or how it will affect them.

Every day a small army of Kansans — officials estimate there are about 16,000 of them — are at work helping some of the state’s neediest cope with the demands of daily life so that they can remain in their own homes rather than nursing homes or state institutions.