News & Issues

Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.

Mercy hospital

Take 5 For Your Health

Alliance Forming To Push For Kansas Medicaid Expansion A new organization is forming to strengthen the lobbying effort for Medicaid expansion in Kansas. The Alliance for a Healthy Kansas will focus on passing an expansion bill in 2017, not in the waning days of the current session, according to Billie Hall, the chief executive of…

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A woman on a scooter

Fountain City Frequency | Tending the Troostwood Garden

Community gardens have been a source of food stability and financial savings for Americans since the 1800s. During the Great Depression, they provided food to the unemployed, and The Victory Garden campaign during WWII encouraged people to help a rationed economy by growing their own fruits and vegetables. And although many of those national campaigns…

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Kansas City Council meeting

Kansas City Council approves health funding increase

The Kansas City Council on Thursday approved a $1.5 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year that boosts spending from health fund reserves to pay for indigent care. After some last-minute lobbying from providers, the council took $300,000 from the reserve to bump up next year’s allocation for Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center and Children’s Mercy…

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Samuel Rodgers, Children’s Mercy get funding reprieve

A Kansas City Council committee has added some funding for indigent health care services in a revised 2016-17 budget to be considered Thursday by the full council – much to the relief of Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center. The Finance and Governance Committee on Wednesday recommended approval of the revised budget, which allocates about $300,000…

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Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster speaking at press conference.

Mental Health Crisis Center Set to Open Ahead Of Schedule

A new 16-bed mental health crisis center on Kansas City’s East Side could open as much as two months ahead of early projections. The target date is now July 1. Details approved this month by the City Council call for a $1 million contribution from Missouri-side hospitals toward annual operating costs of the Kansas City…

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Question from audience

Take 5 For Your Health

Missouri Law Restricting Insurance Navigators Is Pre-Empted By ACA, Judge Rules A federal judge says that Obamacare navigators may dispense advice to those looking for insurance under the federal health reform law. U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith on Wednesday struck down provisions of a Missouri law that bars insurance navigators from giving advice about health…

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