I’ve been a lifelong Republican, born and raised a conservative.
I still have a picture of me standing with George W. Bush in a Bass Pro shirt after working at an event for him.
Although we were poor, my single mother taught me that work is good for the soul and that anything that disincentivizes work is bad for the individual and our community.
So, initially, I did not support the Affordable Care Act when it first became law in 2010. I was against Medicaid expansion in those early years.
But today, I’m writing in full support of expanding Medicaid. Here’s why.
For 11 years I was a hospital CEO in two rural Kansas towns: Ashland Health Center in Clark County and Kearny County Hospital in Lakin.
During these years, I saw firsthand how uncompensated emergency care for uninsured Kansans drove up the cost of health care for all of us. Not only did that mean all Kansans had to pay more for health care — it also meant that our hospital had to scrape together the money to stay open.
We weren’t alone. We started to see financially distressed rural Kansas hospitals close their doors.
This is still happening today.
Since 2005, 10 rural hospitals in Kansas have closed. A recent report showed more than half of rural Kansas hospitals are at risk of closing.
Expanding Medicaid would help support these hospitals.
Another reason for my change was due to my experience as vice president of the Colorado Hospital Association. I directly supported its 45 rural hospitals.
Colorado is a Medicaid expansion state, and unlike Kansas, it has not lost a rural hospital. Not one.
I saw the difference between a state that did not expand Medicaid — and one that did.
Utilizing the federal tax dollars that Coloradans were paying provided their hospitals additional resources to focus on stewardship, community health, and revenue cycle, while families focused on growing their children and going to work.
