Join the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas and supporters of Medicaid Expansion, Thursday, Feb. 13, to rally in support of Senate Bill 252 and KanCare expansion! The lineup of speakers includes Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers. 

Wear a blue shirt to show you're with us!

WHAT: Statehouse Rally in Support of SB 252
WHEN: 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 13
WHERE: 2nd Floor Rotunda, Kansas Statehouse, Topeka 

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Hey you all!

The Alliance for Healthy Kansans who has taken a lead on advocating for KanCare Expansion. I have pasted below why Expansion is important. As we have talked about in the past, this could provide health insurance to many direct support workers/ personal assistants that fall in that gap between regular KanCare and the insurance marketplace. The main argument that legislators are using to oppose moving expansion forward is one that they have used for awhile. They keep saying that “providing healthcare through KanCare will take away from people with disabilities.” The disability community has repeatedly said this is not true. Looking at other States that have approved Medicaid expansion, it has actually made things better for people with disabilities. We have said there are some people with disabilities who currently work and are not eligible for traditional KanCare (Medicaid). We also have said that there are DSW/PCAs that work but do not have healthcare coverage. Both of these groups of people make too much income for traditional KanCare (Medicaid) but they do not make enough income to purchase insurance through  the marketplace.

WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW! We need you to help us find individuals in either of these situations that are willing to talk with Sean Gatewood from the Alliance for Healthy Kansas about their lack of health insurance. Please talk to anyone you know and get their contact information to Sean at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or send it to me and I can get it to him, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you have any questions please let me know. We need to get stories to let legislators know that the disability community supports KanCare Expansion!!!

WHY DOES EXPANSION OF KANCARE MATTER? HERE ARE THE REASONS:

• Economic growth – KanCare expansion will help stimulate the economy and create thousands of jobs. A study by an economist from Kansas State University found that expanding KanCare would create more than 13,000 new jobs.
• It is a Kansas-based solution – Each state that expands its program can tailor it to the state’s particular needs. Among the features Kansas could draw on are requirements that beneficiaries share the costs of premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, incentives for healthy behaviors, and referral to job training for those who might need it.
• It protects access to care, especially in rural areas – Four rural Kansas hospitals have closed in recent years, resulting in loss of access to emergency care, surgery, and other health care services; hundreds of people lost their jobs. Effects of hospital closures are felt throughout the community.
• It helps 150,000 hardworking Kansans who cannot afford coverage – These are our family members, friends, and fellow Kansans who don’t make enough money to afford quality health insurance but have incomes that are too high to qualify for KanCare. Most are employed and many work multiple jobs to provide for their families. These are Kansans stuck in the coverage gap, with no affordable insurance options.
  It helps thousands of uninsured military veterans and their families – About 7,400 veterans and their spouses would gain access to quality, affordable health care coverage with KanCare expansion. Veterans often do not have automatic and easy access to health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, despite their service to our country.
• It controls health insurance costs – Without KanCare expansion, the state’s uninsured will continue to forego necessary health care. As long as thousands of working Kansans remain uninsured, the health care they inevitably need but cannot afford ends up raising the costs of care for others in the state — employers, hospitals, local governments and privately insured individuals and families.
   

 The Alliance has asked us for some help. The disability argument seems to be the lead argument for the opposition. They asked if we had any caregivers that are in the gap or people with disabilities that are not yet able to get onto traditional medicaid but could benifit by expansion or others that may benefit and would be willing to talk about us to get in contact with me. Can you please let your members know, we would like to get something together ASAP.

 - by Sean Gatewood & Lou Ann Kibbee

There are many laws at the Federal and State levels that protect the rights of people with disabilities. Laws protecting our right to access Federally funded programs and State and local programs, businesses, flying, education, housing, and assistive technology, are a few of the most prominent. Two rights that many people do not know about is first the right to receive Medicaid (KanCare) Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) in the most integrated setting. Second, the right to be able to self direct your HCBS in the State of Kansas.

There was a suit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by attorneys representing Lois Curtis (L.C.) and Elaine Wilson (E.W.) in Georgia. Both women were admitted, treated, and determined ready to move out of the institution, but were confined several years longer than needed. On June 22, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that in Olmstead vs. L.C. & E.W. that unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination in violation of title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Court held that public entities must provide community-based services to persons with disabilities when (1) such services are appropriate; (2) the affected persons do not oppose community-based treatment; and (3) community-based services can be reasonably accommodated, taking into account the resources available to the public entity and the needs of others who are receiving disability services from the entity. The Supreme Court explained that its holding “reflects two evident judgments.” First, “institutional placement of persons who can handle and benefit from community settings perpetuates unwarranted assumptions that persons so isolated are incapable of or unworthy of participating in community life.” Second, “confinement in an institution severely diminishes the everyday life activities of individuals, including family relations, social contacts, work options, economic independence, educational advancement, and cultural enrichment.” https://www.ada.gov/olmstead/olmstead_about.htm

The Olmstead Decision was a big win for people with disabilities across the country. Those of us with disabilities living in our communities already believed we should have the right to live in our homes if we choose, as well as receive services needed to live there independently. But this ruling confirmed our belief and has given thousands of individuals the legal support to enforce their rights to live free rather than confined to a nursing home or institution. So if you know someone who is in a nursing home or institution but would prefer to live in their home and community, this ruling could support them to do so. If they are being told that they cannot move out to the community, they should contact the Disability Rights Center of Kansas at 1-877-776-1541 to help them.

In addition, the second law I would like to make sure you know about is the Kansas Self-Direction law K.S.A. 39-7,100 which passed in 1989. There are a couple of important points from this law that affect people with disabilities in receiving in-home care through KanCare. Individuals who need in-home care or receive attendant care services, or are the parents or guardians of minors at least 16 years of age who need in-home care, shall have the right to choose the option to make decisions about, direct and control the attendant care services received, including, but not limited to, selecting, training, managing, paying and firing of an attendant. Also, providers should include individuals in need of in-home care in the planning, startup, delivery and administration of attendant care services and the training of personal care attendants.

Individuals may choose to not self direct and use agency directed services if you do not want to hire, fire, train your own personal care attendants and if the home health agency can meet your needs. But if you do choose to self direct your attendant care services, as most recipients in Kansas do, it is important that you know your rights and responsibilities that go with it. You should also know that the Kansas Self-Direction law is to protect your right in doing so. Your Care Coordinator is required to include you in planning your services, so be sure that you are involved and that they communicate with you. You have the right to choose which providers you use when you are self directing your services. So your Care Coordinator should give you a form with a list of providers to choose from. Some of you may be a little nervous about being an employer, as you are the person in charge when self-directing your services. It is important that you still stay within the requirements of the program as the employer, but it is also important that you be a good employer that respects your attendants who are your employees. By self-directing your attendant care services, you have a great deal more control over your life.

By Lou Ann Kibbee, Systems Advocacy Manager at Southeast Kansas Independent Living (SKIL) Resource Center.