{"id":716,"date":"2022-08-28T22:22:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T22:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kansas-shl.org\/?page_id=716"},"modified":"2022-08-28T22:26:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T22:26:30","slug":"2022-issues","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/news\/mid-summer-exec-board-july-2022\/2022-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SHL ISSUES TO BE PRESENTED TO ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP BY EXECUTIVE BOARD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the Issues decided by the SHL Executive Board at their July board meeting in Junction City on July 27, 2022.  These Issues will be presented to the full membership of the Silver Haired Legislature at their Annual Session this October.  At this meeting the Issues will be discussed, debated, and voted upon, with the result that those favorably passed by the full body of the SHL will then be sent to the Kansas Legislature for their consideration during the 2023 Legislative Session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. \u00a0Support the expansion of Medicaid in Kansas.\u00a0 Of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who fall into the coverage gap this plan is designed to rectify, approximately 16,000 are between the ages of 60-64 years old \u2013 too young to qualify for Medicare, but with income too high for the current Medicaid program.\u00a0 The SHL proposal stresses the Legislature explore the highly occurring incidences of Senior-related illnesses that would be covered by the expansion of Medicaid.\u00a0 Current guidelines indicate that Federal funds would pay for 90.0% of services provided to the Medicaid expansion population.\u00a0 In addition, Medicaid expansion would significantly reduce the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and other medical facilities across the state.\u00a0
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  2. Continue to support the KDOT Public Transportation program in Kansas.\u00a0 Currently in the United States, more than 20% of the population 65 and older does not drive.\u00a0 This puts the burden on family, friends, and other caregivers to provide the transportation needs of the senior non-driver, with over 1.4 billion rides per year arranged for these individuals.\u00a0 Public transportation provides an important safety net for senior citizen\u2019s to have access to medical services, shopping for food and other needed supplies, and continuing their social activities that are so important for a positive quality of life.\u00a0
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  3. Support Broadband Expansion and training in Kansas.\u00a0 Wireless broadband is becoming essential for many tasks and vital services Kansas Seniors need in everyday life, including the need for telemedicine connections to regional medical facilities.\u00a0 Other services include grocery shopping, access to government resources, and email connections to friends and family.\u00a0 Included in the SHL proposal is the importance for education and training on using the internet, including the Zoom feature for more personal contact.\u00a0
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  4. Support the expansion of Medicinal Cannabis for use in Kansas.\u00a0 The stance of the SHL is for use of cannabis products containing 0% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Currently 36 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of cannabis under various circumstances, including all four states that border Kansas.\u00a0
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  5. Support increased funding for the Senior Care Act in Kansas, with an emphasis on home and community based services in order to help older Kansans avoid premature nursing home stays.\u00a0 The Senior Care Act program is often referred to as a \u201csmart dollar\u201d common sense program, as the difference in cost between the expenditure of Senior Care Act funds for an individual as compared to the cost of a nursing facility is more than $5,000 each month per client.\u00a0 With the Kansas population seeing an increase in an over-65 aged percentage due to the arrival of the \u201cbaby boomers\u201d to the mix, it is obvious the need for Senior Care Act funding will continue rise.\u00a0
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  6. Support the Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) request to equalize the sales tax each AAA pays for items needed to provide services to their clients.\u00a0 Currently, eight of the eleven AAA\u2019s are not exempt from state sales tax on products they must purchase, while the other three AAA\u2019s are administered by county governments and are therefore exempt.\u00a0 Because of this disparity, thousands of dollars that could be used for additional services for Senior clients must instead be paid by the AAA to the state in the form of sales taxes.\u00a0 Since all AAA\u2019s are designated as 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, the SHL supports the request to equalize all eleven AAA\u2019s in Kansas.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SHL ISSUES TO BE PRESENTED TO ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP BY EXECUTIVE BOARD Here are the Issues decided by the SHL Executive Board at their July board meeting in Junction City on July 27, 2022.  These Issues will be presented to the full membership of the Silver Haired Legislature at their Annual Session this October.  At this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":706,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-716","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/716\/revisions\/721"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}