Take over as a moderator and we'll be live here in about 10 seconds. Alright. hi everyone. Thanks for joining us today. I have let the press into the zoo and we are now on the Facebook live. I'm gonna go ahead and hand it over to Tom Bell, the former CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association who will serve as our moderator for the event today. Tom Thanks Kyle and thanks everybody for joining us this afternoon. Uh you all know health care was already a major issue before the pandemic started and that has only intensified the issue uh, for example. Just saw a recent study from the Kansas Health Institute that shows that our rates of an insurance are increasing in our state and in fact the most rural flawless parts of our state have the highest rates of an insurance In addition, our delivery system is being challenged uh from uh our health care delivery system to uh our safety net clinics that's all being. And so we thought it was important for us to talk about how our elected officials can protect that safety net how they can support the economy and how they can serve individuals uh and so we wanted to take a look at some things like Medicaid expansion lowering drug costs uh protecting preexisting conditions uh and and other issues. and so today I'm joined by Governor Laura Kelly, who is leading our state's Cove at nineteen response, former health and Human Services Secretary and former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius uh current congresswoman from the third district Sharice Davids and current state senator and candidate for US Senate Doctor Barbara Bee. so what I'd like to do is ask each person or each panelist to take a minute or so quickly introduce themselves and we'll start that with Governor Kelly Governor Kelly Okay. Well. Thanks Tom uh just quickly I actually started my career in health care mental health to be specific uh when I came to Kansas. Uh I ran a statewide association until I became a state senator where I served for 14 years most of those 14 years as the ranking on the public Health and Welfare committee working right alongside US Senator Biller um we were successful. uh I mean I spent I spent all those 14 years working to improve access to health care uh and Medicaid expansion specifically since 2014. The Legislature actually passed Medicaid expansion in 2017 uh former Governor Sam Brownback uh vetoed that and we were unable to override his veto. uh so we continue to struggle uh Republican leadership has been obstructionist in this effort for the last couple of years uh but I want to assure everybody that we won't give up. We're gonna get Medicaid expanded here in the state of Kansas. Thank you. Governor Kelly Secretary of spaces. A time it's good to be with you in this terrific women health champions. um I spent some time in the Kansas Legislature, then as insurance commissioner, then as governor and uh finally as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services with President Obama and each step along the way have work to expand health care options strengthen our health care system and make sure that we invest. There has never been a time like today where we need to shine a bright light on health care and on the kinds of votes that Republicans have taken literally for decades, but most particularly recently uh that have hampered our ability to respond to the covid-nineteen crisis have limited the ability of Kansans to have um affordable available health insurance and make it much more. For our economy to recover, so I'm thrilled that Sharice is there fighting the good fight and we'll continue to be there. I can't wait for Barbara Bee to join her in the US Senate and um so delighted that Governor Kelly is included Medicaid expansion and one of her very top issues and we work every day with her to try and make sure that happens finally in 2021 in Kansas. Representative Davids Thanks, Tom. uh hi everybody. Representative Sharice Davids here from the third district. uh first of all. I'm really glad to be here with our governor with Secretary civil and with uh doctor Bee for this really important conversation about health care uh from things like skyrocketing prescription drug prices to rising premiums. I know there are too many Kansans who are out there struggling with the basic cost of health care and access to quality coverage and when you stack on top of that, we're in the middle of an unprecedented. And public health crisis that has caused millions of Americans to lose their health insurance. We know that it is more important than ever for us to focus on exactly this issue. Uh you know I've I've spent my time in Congress fighting for uh so many things protecting people with preexisting conditions access to quality affordable health care, bringing down the cost of prescription drugs and I think that at the end of the day when all of us come. To fight for things like Medicaid expansion for access to health care, all of our communities are gonna benefit. We have done everything we can in my office to not just listen to constituents, but also to push at the federal level to make sure that we're providing incentives to expand Medicaid. I've introduced a bill uh help and surprise medical billing. These are the things that we need to be advocating for. I'm gonna keep doing that and I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the folks on this panel to do that as we go forward. Thank you Doctor Bee. It is great to be here with all of these amazing people who continue every day to work to make sure that you the people have access to health care. Yes, I'm Barbara Baier. I'm a current state senator and I'm a retired physician and when I became a physician, I did so to improve people's lives and that's exactly the same reason I went into public service and along. People like Governor Laura Kelly when we work together uh I have always been a fierce advocate for making sure people have access to their health care needs. uh both affordability and accessibility and over the years have been very disappointed to try again and again to get things like Medicaid expansion pass, not just for the people who would receive Medicaid. But also for the providers who are taking care of those people to get paid and for all of us all of our tax money. uh right now we're at over $4000000000 that could have come back to the state of Kansas into our economy. expanding access to care and instead, it's gone other places so I am eager to be a continuing voice to advocate for you the people with good people. Just to make sure we help move health care forward in this country reform it appropriately and get it accessible to each and every one of us thanks for having us all here today. Thank you Doctor Bee and let's uh let's just take off from one of the things that doctor, Beyer said, and talk a little bit about Medicaid expansion. Uh we saw the CHI study that showed that the rates of an insurance are higher in rural areas uh doctor Bower mentioned that we've left over $4000000000 on the table. In addition, now we are. As a state uh surrounded by states that have voted to increase or to do Medicaid expansion and so I wanna ask the Governor Kelly to start what is Medicaid expansion mean for Kansan, Kansas and why should Kansans be supportive of it? well uh doctor Bee mentioned a number of the things and you have to uh certainly uh access to affordable health care is the number one reason to expand Medicaid, but that has a real ripple effect uh all through our economy and you mentioned. That island in Missouri just voted the people of Missouri just voted to expand Medicaid so by the beginning of next year, all of the surrounding states are going to have Medicaid expansion. We will be an outlier uh from that and that's going to impact so many things I think it's going to impact. obviously our workforce we will have a less healthy workforce than our surrounding states. Uh we will have more difficulty recruiting providers uh because we don't have Medicaid expansion so whether we're looking at our Johnson County border areas or. At our rural communities, it's gonna be very hard for Kansas to recruit providers uh into the state when uh they won't get reimbursed for um seeing patients on Medicaid uh or patients who are not on Medicaid, so there are just a host of economic and health care reasons uh that we need to expand this. Doctor You've been a fierce advocate for Medicaid expansion in the Kansas Legislature that you wanna add anything to that III really uh support the governor in this endeavor and just wanna be clear um our businesses need this not every business can afford to provide health care coverage for their employees. We know that and every employer knows that uh their employees can work when they're healthy. That's what they want, so you know this is beyond just the health. It is an economic issue for the very people that want everyone working so I I'm very eager to see this pass in our state legislature. Any of the other panelists went weigh in on that issue. II know uh Representative David one of the things you've done in Congress is to sponsor a bill that would let states who have not expanded Medicaid get the advantage that some states that have already done it uh have have already uh maybe talk a little bit about that and what you see from the federal perspective, how you can be supportive. Yeah. That's a great uh great Question II was a little too slow on the draw with my uh mute button. I was I was gonna chime. And say that uh there's actually a lot of work for us to do from the federal perspective to help uh states like Kansas and now we have thirteen states there were fourteen to Missouri uh went ahead and voted uh to expand Medicaid Oklahoma has recently done that and just knowing that uh from the federal perspective, we have the opportunity to help incentivize states and really remove any of the uh uh arguments or barriers uh that exist. Um it's something that I've been pushing for uh I've been an advocate uh I've been advocating for Medicaid expansion since before I even took office so uh I really doubled down on that when I got to DC and in fact, um we were able to get uh the incentivizing Medicaid expansion bill into a package that we passed out of the house just recently, it's unfortunate that uh you know and part of the reason that I'm excited to have doctor Bo here is uh knowing that we we. Have the opportunity in the US Senate to um help usher in some of these amazing policies? Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell has failed to bring uh this and so many other bills to the floor for a vote and I think it it just highlights the need to get a pragmatic and common sense folks who are uh who are gonna help make sure that we have things like Medicaid expansion that we don't have rural hospitals shutting down during a public health crisis and um you know from. Our perspective, I know that I know that we can be really helpful in that. Thank you. Secretary of Let me Let me ask a question of you and take the opportunity to follow up on the Medicaid expansion issue too. if you want to um but maybe a two-part question number one I've seen uh uh on the other side of what a representative David was talking about that the Republican study committee support us uh proposal uh in Congress would actually uh put a moratorium on Medicaid expansion so that states like Kansas couldn't do it maybe comment on that. Since this is part of the ACA, maybe talk a little bit about how the ACA has helped preserve access to health care in Kansas and across the country. President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in March of 2010 uh so it has been 10 years that um actually Kansas and other states could have taken advantage of these benefits by 2014 by January of 2014, the first state started expanding their Medicaid program so we're way behind the curve as as a barber said, and the governor said we we've left a lot of money on the table and um we. Are seeing the results of that with rural hospitals have closed with health care providers watching their businesses jeopardize because their patients can't pay the bills uh and that goes on and on, but a piece of the Affordable Care Act is not only to have Medicaid available to all low-income workers who would qualify by income for that benefit and have the federal government pick up the lion's share of that cost, but in addition to allow people who purchase insurance on their own, the so-called individual market. So you might work for a mom and pop store that doesn't have health insurance. you might run your own business and you have to purchase your own insurance. Be a farm family uh military uh retiree who doesn't qualify for veterans benefits uh a lot of those folks are in Kansas and they need to purchase their own health coverage. so what the Affordable Care Act is the federal government will help you do that based on your income based on a sliding scale and we'll put. A risk pool we'll make sure that insurance companies can't kick you out or lock you out because of some preexisting health condition will make sure that the coverage it covers all of the essential benefits. Mental health coverage. Ambulances and a hospital stays and prescription drugs, and we'll make sure that you can come in and out of that marketplace depending on your workplace. So now we have the pandemic, which not only unfortunately is uh killing. Millions of I mean, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, I think we're up to almost 190000 lives lost, but people have lost their jobs. We have about 4000000 people still not working many of them here in Kansas and with those jobs they lost their health insurance so the Affordable Care Act make sure that at that moment you can come into the marketplace and change of job a change of health insurance status with your job. You to purchase coverage with government help and Roger Marshall has voted time and time again he's reached in to the Kansas Legislature urging them not to pass Medicaid expansion in Kansas, he has voted with the Republican study committee bills and put together plans that uh they say protect people with preexisting condition, But frankly, it is just a lie running a high risk pool is not health insurance. It is not protecting people it is locking people out of the insurance market and we. From trying it over and over again that high-risk pools don't work, they're widely expensive. If you put everybody who's sick in one pot and the rates only go up and finally people have to drop out because it's way too expensive and finally at Roger Marshall has sided with the Republicans and with this administration who are in the Supreme Court right now with a bill pending that would strike down the entire Affordable Care Act so not only would it. Future Medicaid expansion for states like Kansas, but it would threaten everyone who is currently got marketplace coverage in Kansas it would take away that subsidy that the government pays it would take away that preexisting condition guarantee that if you don't have employer-based coverage, you can buy individual coverage and you can pick and choose it would reinstate the possibility that women would pay twice as much as men for the same exact benefits and. Um so he has demonstrated very clearly that he does not favor affordable health care for Kansans, He does not favor protection of preexisting condition and he certainly doesn't favor Medicaid expansion. You look like you might wanna follow up on that. Well to be clear uh Kathleen really has hit so much of what's so important and and and for people to understand uh my opponent he was chairman. He's chairman of this Republican study committee uh and it's uh health care task force and so he's been an integral very key role in making decisions about what they put forward and what's so sad is it's just going to potentially it would erode. This very hard one protections that Kansans have gotten uh that have preexisting conditions that they the protection they have through our current system of the Affordable Care Act and not only that it would cause people in the regular marketplace for their health care costs to rise and families do not need this, particularly now when we're all in a horrible pandemic economic crisis and you know. What I've read and understand is a whole lot of this plan is really just recycled ideas that we're actually rejected just a few years ago, even by Republicans the majority so why are we you know? we know this isn't gonna work and and we have got to protect people with preexisting conditions and Roger Marshall clearly is uh putting things forward uh with this particular plan to take those away and those are our most vulnerable. People and we're seeing that just as we look at the effects of the people in high-risk groups, it's not just age. it's preexisting conditions and we don't even know is covet itself going to be a preexisting condition it very likely could be for many and those of us who have had it will be without coverage at that point and as mentioned also this notion of eliminating the Affordable Care Act, folks that. Is what Medicaid expansion is part of and obviously we're one of the twelve states left now that haven't expanded it. so we're just suddenly gonna take all that away across the country that isn't gonna work. We know that and you know last, but not the least I just have to bring this up. You know Cove. It has been a huge reminder of why we might need to follow public health policy and just related to that whether it's expanding Medicaid uh making sure. Are covered with pre-existing conditions. It's also being a leader on following science and public health. simple things like wearing a mask. No, it's not part of a Medicaid expansion plan, but it is a plan for all of us that our governor even is leading We have got to do these things make sure people are taking care of in the state and aren't getting sick when they don't need to be. Thank you. Tom all incredibly important issues and you mentioned public health if we've learned that one. And in this pandemic, it's that how much of a short trip we've we've seen uh provided to public health in the past. We've got to a better job in the future. Let's switch gears another incredibly important issue Representative David's to to people, maybe uh many people's number one health care issue is is the cost of prescription drugs. Uh when you look at polls that's consistently listed at one of the top two or three, maybe talk a little bit about what you're doing in Washington to try to keep the cost of prescription drugs down. Yeah well. Uh I mean you're right the cost of prescription drugs is a top issue. I hear about it all the time um and particularly when we're in the middle of a public health crisis. Uh you know, I don't think we can hammer home uh to often it cannot be overstated how important it is for people to continue to have access to health care and when we think about protections for preexisting conditions and we think about the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Uh the role of the federal government is to help try to make sure that we can uh keep people in their plans uh make sure that people can afford their prescription drugs. It's part of why I was so proud to pass the lower drug costs now Act, which was uh really transformational legislation that would uh give Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drugs um negotiate directly with drug companies to lower drug prices and really that would. That would drive down the cost of prescription drugs for everyone regardless of what kind of insurance they have uh that they'll also would create a new uh limit on out-of-pocket cost at $2000 and uh you know we're talking about uh we're talking about costs that make the difference between uh if people can pay their bills, you know if people can make their mortgage payment their rent payments um and right now, it's too many people are having to decide whole household budgets around their prescription drug costs. Unfortunately, like I said. The some of this and so many other bills are sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk He has refused to even bring the bills up for a vote uh which really is our opportunity to make sure that we're actually doing what the American people sent us to Washington DC to do and uh you know at the end of the day if uh if Mitch McConnell refuses to uh to do his job, we have to make sure that. Uh not in that position anymore sending to the US Senate is obviously one of the things that we can do here in Kansas to address it. but um you know, I'm gonna keep fighting to try to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and so many of the other issues like surprise, medical billing and protections for preexisting conditions that I can thank you. Uh you know we've talked a lot about the pandemic and and maybe uh direct this question to Governor Kelly. What are some of the biggest? You've you've seen and I mean everything's a challenge, but maybe talk about the biggest challenges you've seen in fighting the nineteen pandemic. You know the two biggest challenges we've had here in Kansas related to uh was first the lack of a federal response uh when this became obviously an issue uh just sort of dumping it on all fifty governors and the territorial governors um. um created the you. Uh just exacerbated the crisis because we were all left uh you know without the assistance of the aid of the direction the structure uh to really uh hit this head on and make a difference. That was the first thing the second thing I think has been since that was the way it was and we were responsible for uh sort of orchestrating our response on a statewide level. Uh the interference of the Republican leadership uh in the Legislature uh they're unwillingness to set politics aside and just deal with the public health issues uh has has really been the other huge obstacle that we've had uh II think you know, given the team that we have here in Kansas uh that you know if we've been given the runway um and not all the obstacles put in our way uh we would have had a much better much more. Response uh and we would be in a different place today. Secretary civilians you you're in a kind of a unique position to have watched this from both uh as a former secretary, but also as a former governor, Maybe you could follow up on some of the comments that the governor just made well, I've been a great admirer of of governor Kelly's willingness to step up and be very clear about what the science says we have a terrific secretary of health and environment and doctor Norman. He's been very clear but uh. Has had to battle the Legislature at every point along the way and part of that problem is when you have no leadership from the White House when you have a president who refused to acknowledge that this was a serious crisis who refused to talk about what the science said, who blocked people who were the scientists like Tony Fauci, who I had the great privilege of working with for five and a half years from being clear and direct to the public on a regular basis. Did not provide that unique logistical and financial support that only the federal government can do it really left people on their own states. We're bidding against each other for equipment and um trying to figure out what the best protocol was CDC. The public health agency was writing guidance and then having to withdraw and rewrite the guidance with political pressure. So uh it's remarkable that we have done as well as we. But uh we still don't have rapid testing and place we should we still don't have protective equipment and all the nursing homes that are struggling to make sure they protect the vulnerable people and God help us when we get to a vaccine, a safe and effective vaccine who can we trust to first of all, say that it's safe and effective and secondly can we trust the distribution system to be transparent and equitable? We have to have the American public understand who should be vaccinated first, how it's going to be distributed who distributes it and right now I. We are still in a in a sort of every person for him or herself, and that's a very dangerous place to be with a virus. That's still circulating widely and killing people each and every day. Alright sorry to interrupt this lively conversation everyone uh we are getting to that point that we're gonna end up transitioning to press questions here. um thank you Tom for moderating and Beth Thank you and I know that's representative Davis does have to hop off here. Thank you for joining us um and for press I do wanna remind you if you have a question here to please raise your virtual hand and from there I will call on you if you don't know how to do that it is on the participants at the bottom of your screen. You'll see a panel open up and Like the hand and we can go from there. Not seeing any questions from the press quite yet, if there's anyone in the press that would like to ask a question, please raise your hand and I'll call on you. We just answered all the questions during the conversation. Alright, it looks like we have a question from Heather Larson Heather. How you can ask your question now if you do. Oh, it looks like she doesn't have a mic She will be submitting a question. Is there anyone else in the press with a question you can raise your hand and I'll call on you. Alright question from Heather Larsen is what is the plan to make Medicaid expansion possible at this point in time? Kyle Hope that uh that question um. You know we're we're obviously um between Sessions uh this is something that has to be voted on by the Kansas Legislature passed by the Kansas Legislature and then uh I would obviously sign it into law. uh so what we need to do right now is to ensure that the people of Kansas uh who buy and large by great percentages support Medicaid expansion that they make their voice. Heard uh to those people who hold elective office and those who are running for elective office so that when the legislature convenes in January uh that everyone who's sitting in one of those seats understands that this is the will of the people and that they need to vote to expand Medicaid. I'm gonna add that uh whoever is elected to the US Senate will determine if we keep an affordable Care act or not so if we don't change that uh we won't even be able to expand Medicaid because it won't be an option and that would it would be such a tragedy, not just for Kansans uh but for this entire country uh to leave millions of. Without health care coverage, and it isn't just about when they get sick. It's to make sure that they stay well and have preventive care that couldn't be stressed anymore at uh why you know during a pandemic time you need to stay healthy so you're running up sicker so really important to keep that in mind as well. Alright, that's all the time we have for questions if you find thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for being here Be safe and stay well. Hey you too. to governors Plural Buh bye.