KEY QUOTE: “More than 72% of respondents to the Kansas Speaks survey said they support expanding Medicaid, up slightly from last year. That includes over 63% of Republicans and nearly 90% of Democrats… These signs of growth in support for Medicaid expansion follow a significant media tour and legislative push by Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly earlier this year.”

These two issues find strong support among Kansans, according to Docking survey
Rose Conlon, Kansas News Service
Oct. 30, 2024

- Support for Medicaid expansion in Kansas remains high, according to a new survey by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University.

- According to the Kansas Health Institute, Medicaid expansion would allow an estimated 152,000 more low-income Kansans to receive coverage under the government health care program.

- The majority of the costs for the expansion are covered by federal funding, and Kansas is one of only ten states that has not yet implemented this expansion. Analysts say that many individuals who would benefit from the expansion are employed in jobs that don’t offer health insurance.

- The survey also revealed that over 11% more Kansans now believe that expanding Medicaid would help rural hospitals remain in business. Several rural hospitals in the state have closed in recent years, including closures last year in Fort Scott and Herington, which have threatened timely access to emergency medical care.

- Around half of Kansans who responded to the Kansas Speaks survey said the issue is highly or extremely important as they decide who to vote to represent them in the state legislature.

- “We can see that a huge portion of Kansans say that (Medicaid expansion) is important to some degree,” said Alexandra Middlewood, a political science professor at Wichita State University who contributed to the survey’s development.