<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/3/1617197834568.png" alt="Overland Park Democratic Rep. Brett Parker, at center in glasses, failed in an attempt to convince the Kansas House to pass an amendment on Medicaid expansion extending health care to 120,000 to 160,000 Kansans. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Overland Park Democratic Rep. Brett Parker, at center in glasses, failed in an attempt to convince the Kansas House to pass an amendment on Medicaid expansion extending health care to 120,000 to 160,000 Kansans. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Chamber adopts ‘our-fiscal-policy-stinks’ motion for 2% budget cut</h2>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/03/30/house-gop-kills-off-another-medicaid-expansion-attempt-by-democrats/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The Republican 
majority in the Kansas House stiff-armed Tuesday the latest in a long 
series of attempts by Democrats to expand eligibility for Medicaid to at
 least 120,000 lower-income Kansans.The minority party 
attempted to amend expansion into a state budget bill because GOP 
leadership in the House had successfully blocked bills in committee that
 would commit the state to a bigger Medicaid program under the 2010 
Affordable Care Act. The amendment offered by Overland Park Rep. Brett 
Parker was rejected 46-78, after Republicans tried to avoid the public 
vote through a procedural maneuver.Democratic Gov. Laura 
Kelly has made Medicaid expansion a top policy priority. She also 
proposed the state’s share of expansion costs could be covered by 
revenue from passage of a medicinal marijuana law.Thirty-eight states have 
implemented Medicaid expansion or passed expansion measures, including 
Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska. At this point, the federal 
government would cover 90% of a state’s cost of increasing coverage 
under Medicaid. In addition, the federal stimulus law would deliver to 
Kansas approximately $450 million in additional funding over the next 
two years if it went ahead with Medicaid reform.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/3/1617197889941.jpeg" alt="Wichita Democratic Rep. Henry Helgerson, left, chatting with Rep. Shannon Francis, R-Liberal, gained House approval of an amendment making a 2% or $161 million across-the-board reduction in the state budget. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Wichita Democratic Rep. Henry Helgerson, left, chatting with Rep. Shannon Francis, R-Liberal, gained House approval of an amendment making a 2% or $161 million across-the-board reduction in the state budget. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>Proponents of expansion 
said the amendment would draw to Kansas a projected $460 million 
annually in federal funding to serve 120,000 to 160,000 people at 
clinics and hospitals statewide. By stopping adoption of Medicaid 
growth, Kansas lawmakers have turned away $4.6 billion in federal aid 
for preventative health care.“I’ve been here for five 
years now,” said Parker, the Overland Park Democrat. “I don’t think 
we’ve worked an expansion bill in the health committee in those five 
years. Medicaid expansion is the right thing to do. It’s been available 
for too long. We’ve not taken action for too long.”Rep. Susan Humphries, 
R-Wichita, urged her colleagues to oppose the amendment because Medicaid
 would be available to pay for abortions. However, the state Medicaid 
director said federal funding could be relied upon for abortions under 
expanded Medicaid only in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of 
the woman.After the dust settled on 
Medicaid, Rep. Troy Waymaster, the House budget committee chairman, 
continued to battle through debate on the budget blueprint. A reduction 
of about $20 in the state fee for a concealed firearm license was 
adopted by House members. An amendment lifting a moratorium on filling 
more beds at the Osawatomie state hospital was defeated.Then, Rep. Henry 
Helgerson, D-Wichita, proposed an amendment slashing the state general 
fund budget by 2%, or $161 million, across the board except for debt 
service. His cut would take no prisoners — it would even hammer the K-12
 education budget. Shockingly, it passed on a voice vote.He said the state of 
Kansas was prepared to spend $650 million more annually than it took in 
through tax revenue, producing a $35 million shortfall by the end of 
June. It is unconstitutional for the state to operate with a deficit.“I really haven’t heard 
anybody talking about doing anything,” said Helgerson, who referred to 
himself a “flaming” fiscal conservative while pointing to Republican and
 Democratic incompetence that wasted millions of dollars in state tax 
dollars. “Our fiscal policy stinks. We spend money like drunken sailors,
 except that it does a disservice to sailors. Financially, we’re out of 
whack.”Helgerson’s subsequent 
motion to send the House budget bill back to the House Appropriations 
Committee to deal with the spending rollback was soundly rejected. In 
the end, the massive reduction in state spending will likely be removed 
in negotiations with the Senate.Before adjourning for the evening, the House approved the budget bill — House Bill 2397 — on a vote of 71-52.Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.&nbsp;

House GOP kills off another Kan. Medicaid expansion attempt