Kansas Governor Says Health Care Legislation Falls Short

Legislators sent Gov. Kathleen Sebelius a health care bill that supporters say provides greater access to health care for many Kansans and saves them money on insurance.

But Sebelius doesn’t think it goes far enough.

The House passed the bill Saturday, 104-16. It then cleared the Senate on a 34-1 vote, with Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley casting the lone dissenting vote.

The Kansas Health Policy Authority offered a 21-point plan that called for phasing in a $300 million increase in health care spending over five years and helping to pay for it with a 50-cent increase in the tax on a pack of cigarettes. It also called for a statewide smoking ban.

Neither the tax hike nor the smoking ban got anywhere. The bill Sebelius got was a far cry from the authority’s proposal, which she endorsed.

“From that point on, it’s been kind of a downhill conversation of trying to do something under the title of health reform but not moving any substantive legislation, which is too bad,” she told reporters.