Health reform has not played such a dominant role in public debate and policymaking for nearly 20 years. While there is growing agreement that fundamental changes must be made given the growing costs of health care and the toll that takes on individuals and the economy, there is still wide disagreement on what meaningful reform should entail. KHI researchers and journalists monitor and report on health reform efforts at the state and federal levels.
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Enrollment for health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s new online marketplaces is scheduled to start Oct. 1 in Kansas and across the nation. But it is clear that many, if not most, of the millions of people expected to benefit from the so-called “insurance exchanges,” still know little or nothing about how the marketplaces are supposed to work or the law behind them.
0 | Mar. 21, 2013 |
This Kansas Health Institute health reform brief examines how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may affect Kansans with mental illness as well as mental health providers.
0 | Feb. 19, 2013 |
A discussion of recent estimates on the cost of expanding Medicaid if Kansas were to do so under the Affordable Care Act. was hosted today by the Kansas Health Institute, the Kansas Policy Institute, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
0 | Jan. 31, 2013 |
The Kansas Health Institute conducted a study about how Kansans perceive the health care system and the Affordable Care Act. The study produced two briefs, “Kansans Share Thoughts on Health Care System” and “What Do Kansans Know about Health Reform?”
0 | Jan. 08, 2013 |
In 2014, the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate will require nearly all U.S. citizens to have health insurance. The health reform law also requires each state to have an online marketplace known as a health insurance exchange where people can obtain insurance. This new issue brief — the eighth in a series focusing on health reform — examines which Kansans would be most likely to use a health insurance exchange.
0 | Dec. 04, 2012 |
This new issue brief examines the effects of a health reform provision to expand Medicaid eligibility for low-income adults.
0 | Jun. 18, 2013 |
Kansas is among the states where federal officials will run the new health insurance exchanges but the state’s top insurance regulators said they hope to inject a local flavor. Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger said her agency has been in discussion with the feds about having some of the more complex calls to the exchange’s toll-free helpline roll over to her department so that Kansas consumers come in touch quickly with local people more familiar with the Kansas insurance plans offered in the exchange and the governing regulations.
0 | Jun. 14, 2013 |
The regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services met with representatives of about 10 Kansas health consumer groups to discuss implementation of the Affordable Care Act. "It will be ready. It will happen," said administrator Stephene Moore of the Oct. 1 launch date for the ACA insurance marketplace.
2 | Jun. 10, 2013 |
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.
0 | Jun. 03, 2013 |
Some of the larger Kansas agencies that provide financial management services for the disabled are nervously waiting to see what will be required of them by ObamaCare. “This is what keeps me up at night,” said Jacque Clifton, owner of Advocate Care Services in Rose Hill, a Wichita suburb.
2 | May. 27, 2013 |
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.
0 | Jun. 17, 2013 |
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.
0 | Jun. 14, 2013 |
The regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services met with representatives of about 10 Kansas health consumer groups to discuss implementation of the Affordable Care Act. "It will be ready. It will happen," said administrator Stephene Moore of the Oct. 1 launch date for the ACA insurance marketplace.
0 | Jun. 18, 2013 |
As part of a high-profile White House initiative, the metropolitan area is among a handful of communities around the country expected to gather hundreds of people for a meeting about mental illness within the next few months.
0 | Jun. 18, 2013 |
The Tower Mental Health Foundation is soliciting grant applications for projects and activities that support mental health services in Kansas.
0 | Jun. 14, 2013 |
Expanded privatization, according to officials at the Kansas Department for Children and Families, could increase child support collections by $52 million over a three-year period.
0 | Oct. 30, 2007 |
TOPEKA, Oct. 30 - Auditors on Tuesday said they found nothing improper about a $1.8 million "separation" payment made earlier this year to former University of Kansas Hospital president Irene Cumming after she told the hospital's board she was resigning.
1 | Jun. 07, 2013 |
The governor and state health officer announced a coming online exercise program designed to encourage Kansans to exercise more, and state workers who do so can earn insurance premium discounts.
2 | Jun. 10, 2013 |
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.
3 | Jun. 04, 2013 |
A state senator who has adopted four boys out of foster care said he’s putting together a plan for reforming the state’s foster care and adoption programs. “There need to be changes in every single part of the system,” said Sen. Forrest Knox, an Altoona Republican.
2 | Jun. 07, 2013 |
Kansas officials this week made public their first quarterly report to federal authorities on the progress of KanCare, Gov. Sam Brownback's initiative to move virtually all the state's Medicaid enrollees into privately run managed care plans.
2 | Apr. 01, 2013 |
Prominent politicians born in log cabins weren’t that common even in the old days. Before House Speaker Ray Merrick came along, Kansas hadn’t had one since Charles Curtis, the long-time U.S. senator who went on to become vice president under Herbert Hoover.
2 | May. 27, 2013 |
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
about health reform answered
by Kansas Insurance Commissioner
Sandy Praeger:
→ Part 1
→ Part 2
→ Part 3
→ Part 4
KHI Briefs on Health Reform
→ Affordable Care Act Will Increase Coverage, Demand for Mental Health Services
→ Kansans Share Thoughts on Health Care System and Affordable Care Act
→ Insurance Exchange Will Provide Many Kansas Consumers With New Options
→ ACA Medicaid Expansion: Enrollment and Cost Estimates for Kansas Policymakers
→ What the Supreme Court Ruling on Health Reform May Mean for Kansans
→ What the Affordable Care Act Could Mean for Kansas Employers and Health Insurance
→ Medicare Changes Include Care Coordination and Prescription Drug Costs
→ Affordable Care Act's Expansion of Medicaid Expected to Boost Kansas Enrollment
→ A Health Insurance Exchange in Kansas? Decisions and Deadlines Ahead for State Leaders
→ The Impact of Health Reform on Insurance Benefits and Mandates in Kansas
→ The Impact of Health Reform on Health Insurance Coverage in Kansas
→ Resource document: Terms and definitions
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