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Topkea, KS – Advocates for the elderly and disabled lined up today before a legislative committee to spell out how budget cuts have affected state services. The Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services heard the testimony at the Statehouse.
For six months this year, a 10% cut in the amount paid to Medicaid service providers caused some reductions in services and waiting lists to swell. That's according to Don Jordan, Secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
"It's lucky that it didn't last any longer than it did," says Jordan. "But just because it's gone away, i think we'll see continuing impacts for what it did to their bottom line for a while."
The payment cut has now been reversed. Advocates are urging lawmakers to increase the amount paid for health care services under Medicaid, saying the payments often don't cover the costs to provide services.
Medicaid provides health care for around 300,000 aged, disabled and low-income Kansans.
