Medicaid

By Stephen Koranda, KPR

Topkea, KS – The Kansas Health Policy Authority is continuing to chip away at a backlog of applications for the Medicaid program.

Last month there were more than 17,000 applications that had been waiting at least 45 days. That's down by about 2,000 applications from the month before.

Overall, however, the system is still pretty jammed. New and old applications combined, the backlog reached a peak of about 33,000 in October.

Jefferson City, MO – Some Missouri lawmakers are questioning the way Medicaid benefits are doled out.

Currently, three state agencies -- The departments of Social Services, Health and Senior Services, and Mental Health -- disperse the bulk of Medicaid payments to clients.

Ryan Silvey of Gladstone, the incoming House Budget Committee chair, says that may have to change.

Kansas City, MO – The state of Kansas is experiencing a record enrollment in its Medicaid program.

As of this summer, about 290,000 Kansans were signed up. That's more than the state's ever had on the rolls before.

The increase is highlighted in a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It looked at Medicaid trends across the country over the past decade.

It found that enrollment increased in every state between December 2008 and 2009.

Topkea, KS – Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson returned from a trip to Washington D.C. recently, where he and a coalition of governors urged Congress to extend federal payments that help support the Medicaid program.

The joint state/federal health program benefits aged, low-income and disabled Kansans.

Federal stimulus legislation has helped pay a bigger chunk of the program in recent years than usual. State lawmakers have assumed that would be extended, and built the funding into the state budget for this fiscal year.