Wichita Eagle: In Kansas, coronavirus forces pause to abortion, Medicaid standoff

By Jonathan Shorman | March 19, 2020 Less than two weeks ago, Medicaid expansion supporters were led away by police after staging protests outside the Kansas Senate. Some Senate Republicans were blockading the proposal until the House approved an anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution. There was no end to the standoff in sight. Today, […]

A traditional understanding of morals

By Pastor Charles McKinzie | March 17, 2020 As a pastor in the United Methodist Church, I spend quite a bit of time in scripture. Usually I’m trying to understand “deep truths” found therein and discern how we are to respond in our modern world. One question that continues to keep me perplexed in my […]

The Coronavirus and Coverage: Why Medicaid Expansion is Critical During a Public Health Crisis

By Sheldon Weisgrau | March 13, 2020 State officials recently announced the first death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in Kansas. The imminent spread of the virus will inevitably stress and illuminate the cracks in the health care system. Among the largest of these cracks is the state’s high rate of […]

Hutchinson News: It’s time to expand Medicaid

By Monte Wentz, O.D. | March 8, 2020 As a health care provider, small business owner and a former hospital board member, I understand how important reliable health care is to our community and to our local economy. However, we are facing a real challenge to maintaining health care in rural communities like ours because […]

Emporia Gazette: Nuns step up for Medicaid

By the Editorial Board | March 5, 2020 To the 76 Catholic nuns who signed a letter urging the Kansas Legislature to pass Medicaid expansion, we say, thank you for your courage. In the letter, the nuns say it is “deeply immoral” for anyone to go without medical care. “We cannot allow anyone to suffer […]

New York Times: Kansas GOP Leader’s Medicaid Expansion Move Roils Statehouse

By John Hanna | March 7, 2020 TOPEKA, Kan. — Jim Denning once symbolized what for Medicaid expansion supporters was wrong with the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature. Now, the Kansas Senate majority leader is an expansion champion who’s under fire from some GOP lawmakers he’s supposed to be leading for working with the state’s Democratic governor. […]

Medicaid Expansion is Critical to Rural Prosperity

By Sheldon Weisgrau | March 5, 2020 Rural hospitals are in crisis. Over the past decade, 120 rural hospitals across the United States have closed. 2019 was the worst year yet, with 19 closures, including two in Kansas. Five rural Kansas hospitals have closed since 2010. The loss of local health care services may be […]

Alliance Senior Policy Advisor Sheldon Weisgrau Joins Missouri Foundation for Health

The Alliance for a Healthy Kansas today announced that Senior Policy Advisor Sheldon Weisgrau is departing the organization to take a new role as vice president for health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health in St. Louis.