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monday, december 2, 2019
Q&A: ‘We have a right to what we can pay Q&A: District 1 for,’ Kansas House majority leader says congressional candidate talks campaign priorities PETER LOGANBILL THE COLLEGIAN
Peter Loganbill, Collegian news editor: “One thing about this podcast is I try to have on as many different perspectives as I can. I’ve had someone look at me and say health care is a human right, and you disagree.” Dan Hawkins, Kansas House majority leader: “I do. I think that we have a right to what we can pay for. Do we want to help those who truly need help? Absolutely we do, and we do that with Medicaid, with our current Medicaid system. But if you can work, and there is a system out there called the Affordable Care Act, and if you work, you can gain access to health care through the Affordable Care Act. “So, we’re not saying you can’t have it, we’re just saying that you need to go to work. And if you can work, you need to work. And if you can’t work, you know, if you’re disabled or something, then Medicaid is there for you. We don’t want to hurt the very people who we need to help the most. And quite frankly, I believe Medicaid expansion is going to force some people out of the system, and it’s going to hurt the very people that we need to help. “So, you know, I think people would really get tied up on the fact that I say healthcare is not a right. Well, what is a right? So, my point is if healthcare is a right, what else is a right? Is owning a Lamborghini a right? Well, I don’t think so.” Loganbill: “Could you give a definition of what you think is a human right?” Hawkins: “I think that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which our Constitution says, but it does it say that somebody has to give you something? No. “You have the right to what you can work for and what you can gain personally, you don’t have the right to
PETER LOGANBILL THE COLLEGIAN
what somebody else, what you’re forcing somebody else to give you. There’s no right to that, and that’s what’s happening.” Loganbill: “You made the comment that you don’t think Medicaid expansion is going to save rural healthcare. What do you mean by rural healthcare and that whole statement?” Hawkins: “When we talk about rural healthcare, generally what we’re talking about is hospitals. In Kansas, we have 83 critical access hospitals. We have more than any other state in the nation. “When we say that Medicaid expansion is not going to save rural healthcare, where are most of the people who are on Medicaid? Not in the rural. Most
of them are where? In the urban centers. “The economic centers is where they’re at. And so, some of these critical access hospitals may get as little as $4,000 a year from Medicaid expansion.” “Fort Scott was a hospital that was losing $15 million a year, Medicaid expansion would have given about two million. So, if you’re losing 15 and you’re given two, do you stay in business? No.” Interested in learning more about Dan Hawkins and what’s happening in Topeka in this Q&A? Check out the “Collegian Kultivate” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Peter Loganbill, Collegian news editor: “National speakers that come through [Kansas] will talk about farming. When Jerry Moran was here, talked about farming quite a bit. So, you seem to know a lot about this, or, you’ve talked to people about it. What has been that experience?” Kali Barnett, 1st District congressional candidate: “To be honest, I know that there’s a big difference between being a farmer’s daughter and an ag policy maker. And that’s what I’m trying to bridge the gap with, and I don’t shy away from saying I’ve been a teacher. I feel like in a lot lot of ways, I’m an expert in music education, not complete expert, but in many, many ways, right? And I understand that there’s a big difference and there’s a big factor of trust that people need to know that is there. “I’ve met with many many ag professors since I announced, even before I announced. Last week, I met with the Kansas Farm Bureau. And to be honest, I went into that room feeling really nervous because I am a younger woman who is running as a Democrat in the 1st District of Kansas and I, you know, walked into the room fully expecting to be judged and criticized and humiliated in some ways and it was the exact opposite experience and I’m constantly pleasantly surprised by people’s reaction to someone who is literally putting themselves out there to make a positive change and putting the effort in to learn about ag policy and our current issues. And everyone knows with our trade war that’s happening, with our
farmers, the bankruptcy rate is skyrocket right now. “Our suicide rate among farmers is skyrocketing and it’s really, really challenging and it’s at a place where it’s almost irreversible, where we have come as far as our trade and even if we stopped everything that’s going on with that today, there would still be a lot of bridges that we have burned that are going to take a long time to rebuild.” Loganbill: “Would you call healthcare a human right?” Barnett: “Absolutely.” Loganbill: “Can you define ‘human right’?” Barnett: “That’s challenging. A human right is anything that we deserve as a living being on this planet and I truly believe that it is my job as the human that’s sitting next to you in the room that if there’s something that you are struggling with, that I can help you as much as possible, right? And we have to have a system in place that has that same ideal. If you were choking on a piece of gum, or something like that, I would be a terrible human being if I just watched you choke on that gum, and I was like, ‘Well, that stinks. Too bad, he shouldn’t have been chewing gum.’ “That’s not an ideal that is good for humanity. It’s not a Christian ideal. I say a lot, you can be a Democrat and a Christian too. Pretty sure that Jesus said that we should take care of people who are in need. And that’s how I feel about healthcare. That’s how I feel about our basic human rights is that we need to take care of each other.” Interested in learning more about Barnett’s campaign in this Q&A? Check out the “Collegian Kultivate” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.