Sports: Jayhawks struggle past Wildcats See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
Wednesday, February 4, 2016
Survey says:
Healthy options lacking in Allen County A recent survey of Allen County gave sobering news. For many, they lack access to affordable and nutritious food. The survey’s results were announced Jan. 26 by Allen County GROW Food and Farm Council. Among the findings: Nearly half of Allen County’s residents (44 percent) do not have access to healthy food, compared to 29 percent statewide. Similar numbers, 42 percent, are dissatisfied with the availability of healthy food here, while 45 percent are dissatisfied with the variety of healthy food available. Over a six-week period, LaClair Consulting Services worked with Allen County Grow to study the current food system within the county, highlighting major challenges and opportunities to increase food access. See FOOD | Page A5
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Dem race shaken, stirred
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a tug-of-war over who’s the best standard-bearer for progressive values as they road test lines of argument for the first one-on-one debate of the Democratic campaign. The race for the Democratic nomination, once seen as a sure thing for Clinton, took on new vigor this week after Sanders held the former secretary of state to a whisper-thin See DEMS | Page A5
Medicaid system snafus leave many without care By ANDY MARSO KHI News Service
Thousands of Kansans seeking Medicaid benefits are being forced to wait months because of continuing problems with a new computer system and a change in the state agency responsible for handling some eligibility determinations. The application backlog began to form in July when state officials moved Medicaid eligibility processing to the long-delayed Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System, or KEES. The software switch forced employees to use dozens of time-consuming workarounds to make the system function. Then on Jan. 1, the state transferred all Medicaid eligibility determination for elderly and disabled Kansans from the Kansas Department for Children and Families to
This delay in service is highly detrimental to pregnant women, new mothers, newborns and infants. — Wyandotte County Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Board, on recent instances in which Medicaid recipients lost coverage
Christine Gordon and her daughter Autumn, whose Medicaid coverage had paid for seizure treatment since the 4-year-old was born. PHOTO BY
CHRISTINE GORDON/SPECIAL TO KHI NEWS SERVICE
the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Organizations that serve those populations say that since then, their clients have been improperly dropped from Medicaid, which in Kansas is a privatized program called KanCare. But they’re not the only ones reporting problems.
Number of elderly in Kansas skyrocketing By ROXANA HEGEMAN The Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The number of Kansas residents older than 65 is expected to double in the next 50 years, outnumbering children for the first time in state history as the population ages and more working-age families leave the state in search of better opportunities, a forecast released Wednesday said. The study by Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research also projects a 21.8 percent increase in the state’s overall population between 2014 and 2064 as the number of Kansas residents reaches
more than 3.5 million people. That is slower than the growth rate for the nation. But the biggest social and economic impact may come from projections that the state’s working-age population, ages 18 to 64, is expected to increase only 10.3 percent during that period. Jeremy Hill, the center’s director, said that is worrisome because it is that body of labor that produces goods, pays income and sales taxes and generally drives the state’s economy. “I did not anticipate that group to not be a self-sustaining as it had been in the past,” Hill said. “The aging See OLDER | Page A5
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 69
Pregnant women traditionally had little trouble getting Medicaid in Kansas. They are presumed eligible, and by law their applications are sent to the top of the list. But late last month the Wyandotte County Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Board warned legislators that even those applications, which used to take seven to 10 days to process, are now taking three or four months. “This delay in service is highly detrimental to pregnant women, new mothers, newborns and infants,” the review board’s community action team told the Joint
Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight on Jan. 22. “If pregnant women are unable to present a medical card to initiate medical treatment, then prenatal care becomes delayed or nonexistent.” Aaron Dunkel, KDHE deputy secretary, told the group he’d look into the problem. KDHE spokeswoman Sara Belfry said via email that the department has about 10,000 Medicaid applications pending, which is up from about 6,000 prior to taking on DCF’s eligibility responsibilities. Belfry said “a number of
factors” contributed to the backlog, including the open enrollment period for insurance through the healthcare. gov marketplace, which refers some Kansans to Medicaid. “We continue to take steps to address and eliminate the pending applications for all Medicaid populations,” Belfry said. “We have added and redeployed staff to increase application processing capacity and continue to make system improvements to decrease application processing times.” Nursing homes feel financial pinch
Meanwhile, since Jan. 1, Belfry’s department has instructed every Kansan having problems with Medicaid processing to call the KanCare Clearinghouse — a single 800 number associated with a small KDHE outpost of 336 See MEDICAID | Page A2
Governor wants more say in high court By MELISSA HELLMANN The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering giving the governor more authority over who is appointed to the state Supreme Court, which has been under increasing attacks by conservatives who say it is too liberal. A proposed constitutional amendment to change the selection system received first-round approval in the House on Wednesday and advances to a final vote that could come today. The measure needs from two-thirds of the House’s members, or 84 of 125, to advance to the Senate. With major cases on school funding and abortion restrictions now pending before the high court, Republican Gov.
Sam Brownback and his allies are seeking to change its makeup. Last year, Brownback openly campaigned against the retention of two state Supreme Court justices. The state’s high court judges are chosen by five attorneys and four public members selected by the governor. The non-partisan committee then chooses three finalists, with the governor making the final selection. A proposed constitutional amendment
“Things don’t have to change the world to be important.” — Steve Jobs 75 Cents
would change the system so that the governor would nominate justices, who would then be approved for the court by a majority of the Senate. During debate Wednesday, opponents argued the move is drastic. Supporters argued that the current process is undemocratic. Rep. James Todd, a Republican from Overland Park, presented the proposed amendment and pointed out that it’s the model used to appoint people to the U.S. Supreme Court. “That model has served this nation well and will serve Kansas well if we adopt it,” Todd said. Chief Justice Lawton Nuss told reporters that he doesn’t think a change to how justices See COURT | Page A5
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