The State of Kansas is setting a national standard for its efforts to ensure more Kansans are insured.
State Sen. Jim Barnett recently returned from Chicago, where increasing health insurance coverage was the topic of a meeting he attended sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“It was a great meeting,” Barnett said on Tuesday. “I’m somewhat skeptical of meetings, but this was a very worthwhile meeting. Kansas is really positioned to be a leader in the nation in health-care reform.”
Barnett, who also is a physician, was one of four legislators on the nine-member Kansas team that met with other leaders in health-care reform from 14 states.
The foundation brought in national experts on various health-care related topics and allowed participants time to spend with them. Barnett and the others talked about what Kansas was planning and received feedback from other participants.
“The other really helpful aspect was that it allowed us to have hours of time together ... where the team could just sit down and talk and discuss and reach consensus on what seems to be good health-care policy for Kansas,” he said.
The Kansas Health Policy Authority, established several years ago, is being looked at as a model by other states, Barnett said.
The state insurance benefit package focuses, for example, more on wellness and preventing health problems then waiting until more stringent treatment is needed. The package emphasizes preventive tests, such as mammograms, colonoscopies and diabetes care.
“There were three major things that we focused on,” Barnett said of the meeting. “The first area was that of greater personal responsibility for health. I think we all realize that much of the cost of health care is driven by unhealthy lifestyles… We often, first of all, think of smoking and childhood obesity, but it leads to other things.”
It is important, he said, that health-care costs are more transparent so people know what the costs are.
“There are a number of initiatives that we can introduce across the state for individuals to eat healthier and be more involved with exercise and taking care of their own health,” Barnett said.
The second primary issue involved not only prevention, but “every Kansan having a medical home, because we know that when people have a health-care provider — a medical home — they’re more likely to … treat illnesses early rather than late.”
Good nutrition also plays a role in schools and in the workplace as well.
“I think longterm, the state needs to look first of all at vending machines,” he said.
Dental care, too, is a pressing need in Kansas. Barnett wants to look at ways to begin expanding dental care and speculated that efforts begin with pregnant women.
“A lot of money is spent on end-of-life issues, and we think that to have an open discussion on health-care costs, not only throughout life but also at the end of life as well,” he said.
The last piece of the health-care puzzle deals with “providing and protecting affordable insurance for Kansans,” he said.
Making insurance available for children was the first priority of those at the meeting. Making insurance available, however, often presents a struggle for small businesses.
“We’re looking at a sort of clearinghouse for small businesses … to use what’s called Section 25,” he said.
Workers need to be able to buy insurance with pre-tax money and Kansans would be encouraged to actually own their own insurance so it is portable if they change jobs, Barnett said.
Insurance for young adults, one of the highly uninsured groups, also was among the topics discussed.
“We need to look at some more policies for them that are affordable,” he said.
Medicaid reform also came under consideration.
“Medicaid is one of those gorillas in the state budget that we struggle with,” he said. “One (segment) of the population that really struggles are working adults who don’t make enough money to afford health care and health insurance.”
Barnett said that slightly more than 300,000 Kansans — about 12 percent of the population — do not have health insurance.
“Kansas actually fares much better than many states. Some are over 20 percent,” he said. “But still, 300,000 is far too many.”