Rural Children More at Risk if Medicaid Massively Cut

Kenna McNally | January 31, 2025
For years, the Kansas Legislature has refused to expand Medicaid in Kansas, keeping hundreds of thousands of Kansans from accessing healthcare. Now, Congress is threatening to cut Medicaid funding by millions of dollars. As federal and state funds jointly fund Medicaid, this funding loss would cripple Kansas’ budget and send shockwaves throughout the state’s health care system.
All Kansans will feel the effects of these large-scale funding cuts, especially those living in rural communities where children and adults (including pregnant women and people with disabilities) are more likely to rely on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for health insurance. A new report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) confirms Medicaid's vital role in Kansas.
According to the report:
- 32.3% of children in rural areas and small towns receive coverage through Medicaid/CHIP, compared to 28.7% in urban areas.
- Among adults under 65, 10.5% of those in Kansas’s small towns and rural areas get coverage through Medicaid/CHIP, compared to 9.2% in urban areas.
- In states (like Kansas) that have not expanded Medicaid, a disproportionate number of adult women under 65 rely on Medicaid for their basic health care needs as eligibility for Medicaid programs is severely limited.
Rural communities face distinct challenges when accessing the health care they need. Since 2005, Kansas has seen 10 rural hospitals shut their doors with 25 more hospitals at an immediate risk of closure. In Kansas, provider shortages and hospital closures mean too many people in our small towns and rural communities can’t access preventative care, see their doctor to manage chronic conditions, or easily travel to hospital and maternity care close to home. Kansans are instead forced to drive long distances to access care – or be forced to forgo care altogether.
To reduce costs at the scale Congress is considering, Kansas would have to deny coverage and services to children, people with disabilities, and seniors. There is no solution where these populations remain unharmed with the proposed funding cuts.
And the consequences of federal Medicaid funding cuts won’t only be felt by those covered under Medicaid. The impact will ripple across health systems, hospitals, providers, and local economies. When uninsured individuals use emergency health services and cannot pay the exorbitant costs, the rest of us have to pick up the tab so facilities can stay open. Kansas losing Medicaid funding means losing the support for health care for all Kansans, including doctors and specialists, mental health services, and long-term care and nursing homes.
Kansas cannot manage its way out of these massive funding losses. Congress must reject sweeping cuts to Medicaid. We need Kansas decisionmakers to work together to design approaches that balance fiscal responsibility with the health and well-being of all Kansans, especially our rural communities, which are the backbone of our state.
The consequences of these proposed cuts will have lasting impacts across Kansas. Congress must take Medicaid funding cuts off the table so that those most vulnerable in our state have what they need to be healthy.
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