By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System is in support of the current Medicaid expansion bill in the Kansas Legislature.
"The estimates are 150,000 Kansans could receive immediate care if we get this bill through the Senate," said Chuck Welch, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. "Locally, we would see between 1600 and 1700 folks out of Reno County that would receive care immediately. That's a big deal."
Part of what Medicaid expansion would do is get people involved in the healthcare system when they are less sick.
"Unfortunately, when you are further down the road in your illness, it's tougher to bring you back," Welch said. "From an expense standpoint, from a healthcare standpoint, early intervention is the key. We're seeing that in every branch of medicine."
There are opinions on both sides of the issue as to whether or not it is less expensive for everyone to pay for healthcare for those who don't pay now through increased insurance premiums or through taxes.
"As a healthcare system, Hutchinson Regional writes off about $20 million a year in bad debt and uncompensated care," said Ken Johnson, CEO of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System. "While that may provide relief to our patients, that's not a funding source. Medicaid expansion provides a funding source to help defray some of those costs to us as a provider, but also to all medical providers that are providing Medicaid services."
Currently, leadership in the Kansas Senate is not moving an expansion bill until an adjustment is made in state policy regarding abortion that would make sure no expansion dollars could go toward those procedures.