• The Forum
    • Community Connection
    • Tiger Talk
    • Dreaming Big with Dr. Jamie Schwandt
    • You And Your Young Child
    • Green And Growing
    • Extras From The Extension
    • House 2 Home
    • High School Sports Interviews
    • FFA Interviews
    • Connecting With SouthWind

Hays Post

Hays (KS) News, Opinion, Sports, Video

  • Hays News
    • Hays Police Department Arrest Log
    • Opinion
    • Hays Eats™
    • HaysHasJobs
    • Cancellations and Delays
    • Tech Scoop
  • State/Region
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Contests
  • Obituaries
  • Auctions
  • More
    • ADVERTISE with Eagle Web Services
    • Contact Us
    • Notices
    • Circulars
    • Local Church Services
    • DISQUS Terms of Service
    • Eagle Radio Contest Rules
    • ADVERTISE with Eagle Radio & Hull Broadcasting of Hays
    • Terms Of Service
    • Submit Your Post

INSIGHT KANSAS: Constituents, clergy test Marshall’s commitment to health care

March 16, 2017 by Hays Post 2 Comments

When U.S. Representative Roger Marshall defeated incumbent Tim Huelsklamp last summer, commentators anticipated a rejection of Huelskamp’s bombastic, confrontational Tea Party politics, returning instead to a district-centered, low-key Republican like Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, both of whom once represented this same rural “Big First” district in central and western Kansas.

Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.

Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.

How committed is Marshall to his district? One major test is his stance on repealing the Affordable Care Act. According to the Congressional Budget office, 24 million Americans will lose their health coverage under the Republican bill now working its way through Congress. This includes many Kansans. According to the U.S. Census, the Big First and the Wichita-area 4th district have the highest percentages of Kansans uninsured—nearly 10% in the 1st, considerably higher than in Eastern Kansas.

The Big First also features over 200,000 constituents who get their health insurance from public—that is, government—coverage. Will Marshall look out for them? His infamous quote from last week does not bode well. A doctor, Marshall told the health-care journal STAT, “Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us…’ There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves… morally, spiritually [and] socially.”

Marshall’s comments drew heated reaction as he toured the district last weekend. At a packed Emporia town hall meeting—in a hospital, no less—one constituent who works with the homeless shot back: “The first thing that people want when they come to the shelter is health insurance.”

Other constituents were restive with Marshall’s deflections, and even local doctors who spoke were split on ACA repeal. Marshall’s other town hall meetings also got tense.

In addition, Big First clergy responded to his STAT interview. Pastors from Sterling to Salina told me—in nearly identical language—that Marshall’s interpretation of this scripture was “the opposite of what Jesus intended.” Pastor Caela Wood First Congregational Church in Manhattan, KS, explains, “Jesus was quoting another passage from Deuteronomy about how we treat people with lower income… that’s Jesus’ way of saying, ‘you probably aren’t going to follow that.’”

From Sterling, KS, clergy, I heard, “God is biased toward the poor, powerless, and disenfranchised,” and from Salina, “Jesus is especially attentive to people’s need for healing and hope, for food and care.”

Pastor Andrew McHenry of the First Congregational Church of Emporia added, “Some people (usually wealthy Americans) interpret this not as an observation on the continual opportunity to do ministry with the poor, but as a command to entrench the poor.”

Michael P. Milliken, Episcopal Bishop for Western Kansas, summed it up: “just because Jesus said the poor will always be there doesn’t give us an excuse to look the other way.”

Can Marshall respond meaningfully? Medicaid expansion recently passed the Kansas House with many Republican votes. In Congress, Republicans are defecting from the hasty, ill-conceived ACA “replacement” bill. Opposition includes the conservative Freedom Caucus, a pragmatic Coverage Caucus, and many Republican governors.

The debate over ACA repeal and Medicaid expansion may be the first real test of Marshall’s relationship with his constituents.

Godspeed, Congressman.

Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Editor's Choice/Opinion, Local

  • Hays resident

    The good professor needs to check his facts. The statement that “over 200,000 constituents who get their health insurance from public—that is, government—coverage” is somewhat misleading, as it includes some 50,000 or so military and military family members under Tricare, thousands of military retirees in the Junction City area, thousands more veterans using the VA, tens of thousands of retirees on Medicare, etc.

    The Obamacare numbers in the Big 1st are dramatically less. Kaiser Foundation map of ACA Marketplace enrollees by congressional district shows 19,300 people participating in Obamacare plans in 2016; just 16,200 receive premium tax credits.

    Perhaps Marshall is speaking, you know, from first hand experience as an obstetrician whose delivered thousands of babies in Barton County. The Center for Medicaid Studies and Services estimates 15% of the Barton Co. under 65 population to be eligible for Medicaid/CHIP in 2014. The Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment shows 20% of Barton County to be Medicaid/KANCARE in 2011 (most recent data they have posted). It’s reasonable to estimate that at least 1 in 5 patients Marshall treats are Medicaid patients, and these are the ones he’s referring to.

    How many poor, expectant mothers has Prof. Smith consulted and offered medical advice to? I’m guessing that number is zero.

    • Bitter Medicine

      Also zero: Meidiaid expansion dollars sent to Kansas under the ACA, for no reason but political posturing. Result:100,000 eligible Kansans, mostly from working families, remain uninsured. Dr. Denial is right–in Kan, the poor will always be with us.

Top Posts

  • Hays man charged with sex crimes against 13-year-olds
  • HPD arrest log, April 16 to 18
  • JCPenney in Hays receives company’s highest distinction
  • Woman dies on airplane that lands in Kansas City
  • More than 100 Hays homes, businesses affected by natural gas outage

Copyright © 2018 · Hays Post - Hays, KS · Powered by Eagle Communications | EEO

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.