By Alex Smith

Medicaid expansion may yet happen in Missouri, according to state Sen. Ryan Silvey.

The Kansas City Republican said on Friday that he believes he has the support he needs to pass a Medicaid expansion bill that addresses the concerns of his more conservative colleagues.

“More and more people are coming to the realization that, while we don’t necessarily like Obamacare — while we aren’t the biggest fans of putting more people on Medicaid — that the way the current system is and the way the courts have continued to uphold it, it’s going to be damaging to our hospitals if we don’t do something,” Silvey said at an Overland Park, Kan., event sponsored by the Mother & Child Health Coalition and other groups.

Under the Affordable Care Act, disproportionate share hospital (DSH) funds, which the federal government pays hospitals to offset the costs of charity care, will be reduced starting Oct. 1, 2015.

The ACA was designed to eliminate the need for DSH funding by providing insurance to those who receive charity care. But neither Missouri nor Kansas has expanded Medicaid, leaving hospitals with the worst of both worlds.

As envisioned under the health care reform law, Silvey’s plan would expand Medicaid to those with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about $16,104 in annual income for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four — and add about 300,000 more people to Missouri’s Medicaid rolls. But it would also create additional requirements.

Money saved by expansion would go into a trust fund to fill funding gaps when federal support for Medicaid is reduced. If the trust fund runs out, Medicaid payments to providers would be reduced.

Under the ACA, the federal government has agreed to pay all Medicaid expansion costs for three years. After that the federal share will gradually decline until it reaches 90 percent, where it will remain.

Silvey said his plan is supported by hospitals and other provider groups.

He said the compromise bill was close to being approved at the end of the 2014 legislative session but was blocked by a handful of influential legislators.

Now that some of those expansion opponents, particularly Republican Sen. John Lamping of St. Louis County, are not seeking reelection, Silvey said he’s more optimistic about the bill’s chances.

Alex Smith is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A South Carolina company that sells minibikes and go-carts has agreed to pay $4.3 million in a settlement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission — the largest-ever civil penalty levied by the agency.

CPSC alleged that Baja Inc. and its corporate affiliate, One World Technologies Inc., of Anderson, South Carolina, failed to immediately report safety problems with 11 models of minibikes and go-carts.

The vehicles were sold beginning in 2004 and recalled in 2010. CPSC says Baja received reports of fires from leaking gas caps, burn injuries and stuck throttles, but did not immediately report them to CPSC as required by law.

Baja and One World did not acknowledge the charges that the vehicles had a defect or that the company failed to notify CPSC in a timely manner.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new coalition of Missouri lawyers and law professors that includes a former governor and a retired state Court of Appeals judge is asking Gov. Jay Nixon to commute the prison sentences of 14 women, most of whom it says were victims of domestic violence.

The Community Coalition for Clemency made its public appeal at a Tuesday morning news conference at the Saint Louis University School of Law. The announcement coincides with Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Group members said the women received sentences disproportionate to their crimes, and in some cases more severe than those received by men convicted of similar offenses.
Nixon has granted just one clemency request since taking office in 2009, by far the fewest among Missouri’s previous six governors.

 

JUNCTION CITY- A Kansas woman was arrested on Interstate 70 just after 1 a.m. on Tuesday in Geary County.

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department reported that deputies stopped Cheryl Lynn Lund, Lawrence, on Interstate 70 about six miles east of Junction City on suspicion of being a pedestrian on the interstate.

Further investigation revealed Lund was westbound on the interstate at 11:50 p.m. when her Toyota Camry left the road, struck a KDOT sign, continued west into a ditch, and struck a concrete culvert. The accident caused the deployment of the air bags and major damage to the vehicle.

The Junction City Fire Department responded to the accident and evaluated Lund who declined treatment. No injuries were reported.

As a result of the investigation the Sheriff’s Department arrested Lund on suspicion of Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, Driving While Suspended, Interference With Law Enforcement, Failure to Report an Accident, Improper Driving on the Roadway, and Refusal of Preliminary Breath Test.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has set a new hearing on the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

A court notice filed Tuesday shows the hearing on the ACLU’s request for an order forcing Kansas to allow gay marriages is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday before U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in Kansas City, Kansas.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit for two lesbian couples denied marriage licenses in Douglas and Sedgwick counties after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from five other states seeking to preserve bans on gay marriage.

The ACLU is seeking a temporary injunction that would bring Kansas into line with a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals precedent set in other cases.

 

JIM SALTER, Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri is preparing to execute a man who wasn’t able to appeal his conviction in federal court because his attorneys missed a filing deadline to do so.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Records from the Kansas attorney general’s office show taxpayers spent more than $34,000 in legal fees for the secretary of state’s failed effort to force Kansas Democrats to field a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach told The Wichita Eagle  that’s not a lot of money, in litigation terms.

The state paid Wichita-based Hinkle Law Firm $34,627 to defend Kobach against a lawsuit brought by Democrat Chad Taylor, who withdrew from the Senate race.

The Kansas Supreme Court rejected Kobach’s argument that Taylor should remain on the ballot because he did not declare himself incapable of serving, if elected.

The state also retained Hinkle when it tried to intervene in a lawsuit to force the Democratic Party to name a replacement candidate, which also failed.

JIM SALTER, Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Seven school districts have asked the St. Louis County prosecutor to wait until classes aren’t in session to make any announcement about whether a grand jury decided charges were warranted in the Ferguson police shooting case.

Riverview Gardens School District Superintendent Scott Spurgeon last week sent Prosecutor Bob McCulloch a letter signed by six other superintendents asking that any announcement be made after 5 p.m. or on a weekend.

The grand jury is expected to decide by mid-November whether Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson should face charges in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old, Michael Brown. Brown’s death led to weeks of sometimes violent protests in and around Ferguson.

The letter suggests that any protests after the announcement could make it hard for students to get home.