Residents of Kansas City may soon decide whether to renew a tax to support area health services. The city’s finance committee has moved the proposal to the full council.
Kansas City’s nine-year health levy brings in about $15 million annually to help fund services for people without insurance at area health clinics. A proposed renewal would extend that property tax at the same level for another nine years.
Gerard Grimaldi, Vice President of Health Policy at Truman Medical Centers, told committee members this morning the extension helps ensure places like Truman have the resources to care for people in need.
“Continuing this funding at the current level is about patient care in Kansas City -- improving access to care, improving health status,” he said.
One question in all of this is how the federal health law will affect the need for such funding in the future. More people are expected to gain health coverage, for example. Backers of the levy argued the transition is full of uncertainty, that it could be costly at the onset, and that many people will still be uninsured.
The finance committee went on to unanimously pass the proposed renewal. It now goes to the full council next week. If approved, the measure would go before voters in April.
