Friday, July 18, 2025
KANSAS – On behalf of the North Central Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging, Inc. I write to share our concerns about the proposed changes to the Medicaid program in the reconciliation bill. Our Agency serves older adults and people with disabilities with the goal of helping people maintain their wellness and remain in their home communities for as long as possible. Our role as a trustworthy source of information and community-based services and resources enables older Kansans and their caregivers to learn about access to critical home and community-based services (HCBS).
These proposed large cuts to the Medicaid program will have a significant impact on our state’s ability to continue these essential HCBS services over time. By shifting costs to the states and adding administrative burden, the bill will adversely affect even those populations it deems as protected. You cannot bleed a system this significantly and expect all of it to remain healthy.
To put a face on our concerns, here are seven significant consequences if Medicaid funds are reduced or eliminated in Kansas.
1. Hospitals and clinics closures affect the access people have to healthcare-- especially people in rural areas. Kansas already has one of the highest number of hospitals at risk of closure in the nation—in the top four in the nation.
2. Closures of hospitals and clinics will cause cascading effects on the quality of life of many Kansas communities. Trained staff with medical experience and expertise will leave small-town clinics and hospitals and will seek jobs elsewhere. Not having available health care will speed the economic deterioration of vulnerable Kansas communities and adversely affect the tax bases of counties and cities dependent on a stable population. This is especially an issue in rural Kansas. What is left behind in rural communities are the older Kansans who do not have the means or support to afford and make the move to a community with accessible healthcare and services.
3. Uncertainty if state lawmakers will allocate needed funds to make up the loss that will affect HCBS services in our state funded by Medicaid. Reductions in HCBS services will increase need for Nursing Facility placement—yet, with lower Medicaid reimbursements, there won’t be beds available.
4. Older Kansans and people with disabling conditions will be using emergency services at higher levels because there will be fewer providers and doctors. Emergency rooms are the only places that will accept people who need services because they are unable to turn someone away. This will increase costs to the community and taxpayers.
5. Workforce providing in-home services and healthcare will be
severely strained due to lower reimbursements and staff need for insurance coverage. This is already a big challenge in rural parts of Kansas.
6. Fifty-seven nursing homes have already closed in the last five years. This is about 20 percent of the total facilities in the state. Lower Medicaid reimbursements, combined with the higher costs of staff will create a care crisis for older Kansans and their caregivers.
7. Currently, some health care providers are not accepting Medicaid reimbursement rates. The providers accepting Medicaid rates are already limited. If rates are further reduced, there will be more crisis in healthcare that will especially affect older Kansans and low-income individuals’ access to needed care.
As these concerns indicate, not only will services directly provided to older Kansans be impacted by the proposal, the ripple effects on all the entities providing these services will also cause immense hardship and difficulties for our older Kansans and those who love and care for them
Thank you in advance for your attention to these important concerns.
And thank you for your support as we work to serve the older Kansas citizens.
