health care

Five years ago today, instead of gathering for a festive St. Patrick’s Day parade, Kansas Citians were ordered not to gather in groups, and hospitals began to gear up for the biggest public health crisis of our lives. We look back at the first days of the pandemic through the eyes of a front-line nurse.

Bills sponsored by Missouri state Sen. Stephen Webber and state Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins are designed to provide more oversight to state nursing homes and require certain staffing levels. But so far they’ve made little progress in the legislature.

The Joint Economic Committee - Minority report released Thursday by Congressional Democrats projects Republican tax cut proposals could mean a one-third cut to Medicaid nationwide. Children, the elderly and rural residents stand to lose the most.

More than 400,000 of Missouri's nearly 1.4 million Medicaid recipients lost coverage after the end of the COVID public health emergency. Almost half were children — one of the highest rates in the nation.

Missouri officials doubt the state could stop accepting Medicaid expansion applicants if the federal government provides less money. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley says he'd be "really concerned" about significant Medicaid cuts in a budget bill.

After the sudden closure of a Kansas City, Kansas, health clinic that mostly served unhoused and uninsured patients, staffers at Care Beyond the Boulevard mobile health clinic ramped up operations to help fill the gap.

Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri have resumed elective abortions for the first time since Amendment 3 passed in November — years after the state banned the practice following the end of Roe v. Wade. But some Republican lawmakers are vowing to get abortion back on the ballot.

Unlike in past years, Republicans currently have enough votes to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto and ban gender-affirming health care for minors. But Democrats and the ACLU says it violates Kansans' constitutional rights.

Pharmacists in Kansas say pharmacy benefit managers, a group that helps determine what medications insurance covers and how much they cost, are choking them out of business.

Big fights on issues like transgender health care access will be repeated again this session as Republicans lead with a stronger majority.

Missouri lawmakers will consider dozens of health-related bills this session. Topics like insulin pricing, food labeling and mental health are top of mind, as well as efforts to reverse the abortion rights amendment passed by voters in November.

The Palestinian American Medical Association, founded in Kansas City in 2013, works to ensure Palestinians have access to the health care they need. Since the current war began last year, their work has become even more critical.