Gov. Sam Brownback needs to follow the example of at least eight other Republican governors – so far – and accept the offer of a federal Medicaid extension.
Those governors and GOP leaders in those states remain opposed to much of the Affordable Care Act, but they’ve acknowledged that accepting the extension makes financial sense for their state budgets. The federal government will finance the full cost of expansion for the first years. Meanwhile, it will help thousands of low-income Americans receive the critical health services they need. That’s not a “bridge to nowhere.”
Some Republican states held out until the Supreme Court ruling on whether so-called Obamacare is constitutional. It is. Brownback pinned his hopes on Mitt Romney winning the presidential election and somehow dismantling Obamacare. That didn’t happen. Now, much as some would like to see it repealed, it seems obvious it is not going away.
According to the Kansas Health Institute, if the state implements the expansion, 220,000 to 240,000 more Kansans could enroll in the Medicaid program. All Kansans in families earning less than 138 percent of Federal Poverty Level – $31,809 for a family of four – would become eligible. One study estimates  that expansion would increase federal Medicaid spending in Kansas by $3 billion from 2014 to 2020 and create about 4,000 new jobs, most of them in the health-care sector.
When Medicaid was implemented as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society in 1966, 24 states held off on taking part. Eventually, everyone realized it was the new reality and there were benefits to participating. That’s what Republicans need to do now in Kansas.