Medicaid

A federal emergency declaration that has allowed children to receive continuous Medicaid coverage throughout the pandemic could end soon, and health providers are worried.

New Census data shows that more Americans have health insurance now than before the pandemic thanks to special federal programs. But not so in Kansas, where insurance rates dropped significantly below the U.S. average for the first time in decades.

State officials declared the backlog of Medicaid applications "no more" and expressed optimism they would meet a federal deadline set for the end of the month. The state's processing time had grown to 115 days, far longer than allowed under law.

The federal government requires states to process Medicaid applications within 45 days. But in Missouri, roughly four in every five applications took longer to process than that, eight times the national average.

Missouri’s Medicaid program is now operating under a CMS-approved mitigation plan, which seeks to curb wait times that reached 115 days in late June — more than double what federal laws allow.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade and Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo urged Kansas and Illinois’ governors and their legislative counterparts to take advantage of a potential waiver from President Joe Biden aimed at bolstering access to abortions.

A multi-year report on maternal mortality in Missouri found that women on Medicaid are eight times more likely to die within one year of pregnancy than those with private health insurance. Black women were three times more likely to die than white women.

Communities of color in Kansas and Missouri face a far higher burden of medical debt than white people in those states and people of color in many other states. Plus, we hear another Kansas City woman share her abortion story.

Communities of color here face a burden of medical debt that dwarfs what white people experience, and what people of color experience in many other states

Missouri has one of the nation's highest maternal mortality rates. And yet, it's not among the many states taking advantage of an offer from the federal government to pay for extended Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers.

Federal rules give states a maximum turnaround time of 45 days to process Medicaid applications. In April, Missouri took an average of 101 days to process a signup.

Republican infighting in the Missouri Senate often got in the way of passing bills, including many of the majority party’s priorities — like restrictions on abortion medication, diversity curriculum in schools, and transgender athletes in sports.