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Kansas lawmakers to propose abortion ban By John Hanna Associated Press
TOPEKA — Twenty-five Kansas House members have agreed to sponsor a proposed “personhood” amendment to the state constitution to ban abortion and are close to introducing it, the
leader of a group pursuing the measure said Friday. Proponents of the measure face resistance from some fellow abortion opponents as well as abortion rights supporters. The measure in Kansas is similar to an abortion ban rejected last year by Mississippi voters,
and Kansans for Life, the antiabortion group with perhaps the most influence at the Statehouse, worries that a push for an immediate ban will backfire on the movement. The proposal would amend the state constitution’s Bill of Rights, to declare that Kansas
guarantees “the inalienable rights” of every person, starting with fertilization of the human egg. The Personhood Kansas Committee, the Wichita-area group advocating the measure, sees it as a potential challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court
establishing a right to an abortion. “We’re at a point, 40 years into this, that there shouldn’t be any confusion about what’s in there, in the mother’s womb,” said committee Chairman Bruce Please see ABORTION, page 4A
LEGISLATURE
Democrats critical of plan to cut tax credits
Medicaid overhaul on minds of health leaders
By Scott Rothschild
srothschild@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos
KELLY EVANS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TRINITY IN-HOME CARE, LAWRENCE, CENTER, JOINS other area health-care providers, staff and administrators in attending a public meeting Friday about the Brownback administration’s plan to move to a managed care system for all Medicaid recipients. Secretary Shawn Sullivan of the Department of Aging and Disability Concerns talked about the proposed plan, KanCare, and the re-organization of state agencies. BELOW: Sharon Spratt, CEO of Cottonwood Inc., left, and Carl Locke, on the Cottonwood board of trustees, greet Sullivan on Friday.
Please see TAX CREDIT, page 2A
Different tax scenarios under governor’s
State official talks about plan to privatize program
plan. Page 2A
By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
About 50 people, including nonprofit health agency leaders, attended a presentation Friday afternoon by Kansas Department on Aging Secretary Shawn Sullivan about the state’s plan to privatize the Medicaid program by January 2013. Sullivan handed out a seven-page information sheet and went over the basics of the plan called KanCare. He said the goal is to reduce costs of the $2.8 billion Medicaid program that serves 340,000 low-income, elderly and disabled residents by providing more integrated care with better outcomes. The state is projecting to save $853 million in the first five years.
The plan Sullivan said that currently the state pays thousands of providers, from doctors to nursing homes, to take care of Medicaid consumers. Under KanCare, every Medicaid consumer will be enrolled into one of three managed care companies, and the state will pay a set amount per month based on the type of client they are serving. Those three managed care companies will be determined this summer and then they will contract out to the thousands of providers that will be in their network. Sullivan said the only way these companies can make a profit is by achieving better out-
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comes such as fewer people in nursing homes, lesser rate of institutionalization and better follow-up care. “We’ve put dozens of incentives and penalties into the RFP (request for proposal) and contract to ensure that the only way these three vendors will make it financially is by serving the consumers better than what we do now,” he said. For example, Sullivan said he had an uncle who lived in another state and was on a similar Medicaid program to the one Kansas has now. He had liver problems, diabetes and mental health needs. He saw various specialists, counselors and doctors, and they
were prescribing him different medications. “There wasn’t one entity or care coordinator to help him coordinate all of those things, to make sure the mental health counselor was talking to the primary care physician who was talking to the diabetes specialist,” Sullivan said. As a result, his uncle was in and out of the emergency room 29 times in the last 18 months of his life. Sullivan believes that with a care manager under the KanCare system, his uncle would have received better care. Please see MEDICAID, page 2A
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TOPEKA — Democrats and advocates for lowincome families on Friday blasted Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed tax plan because it would junk tax credits aimed at helping poor and elderly Kansans. And they distributed runs from the Kansas Department of Revenue on how Brownback’s plan would affect different types of taxpayers. Currently, a single head of household with one child and a Kansas adjusted gross income of $20,000 per year and using standard deductions would receive a $382 state income tax refund. Under Brownback’s plan, that Brownback taxpayer would owe $60 in taxes because of the loss of tax credits. That amounts to a tax increase of $442. Meanwhile, under the current tax schedule, a married couple with a Kansas adjusted gross income of $64,930, filing jointly with one child and using standard deductions, would pay $2,412 in state income taxes. Under Brownback’s plan, they would pay $1,987, a tax cut of $425. House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said Brownback’s proposal shifted the burden of
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$7M sought for upgrades to city, county emergency dispatch center By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Calls of distress usually come into the city and county’s emergency dispatch center. Now, a $7 million call is being made from the center to local government officials. Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug said Friday he’s recommending the city of Lawrence and Douglas County come up with $7 million in the near future to help the center that handles 911 calls and other emergency communications meet new federal technology standards. “Most of the equipment in there is 15 or 16 years old and just needs to be replaced,” Weinaug said. Some of the equipment must be replaced, Please see DISPATCH, page 2A
COMING SUNDAY We’ll take you back to early-day Lawrence and the laws that were passed to keep residents safe and orderly.
Vol.154/No.14 22 pages
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