This evening I am thinking about all the hard working Kansans I have met on the campaign trail so far. From Baldwin City to Spring Hill and points south. I have attended many events and had the pleasure of chatting with so many Kansans just like you. Hard working people who want to build a good life for their families. Folks who want their kids to have more opportunity then they did. As Kansans, we know what hard work is and we are willing to work from sun up to sun down so our kids have more. We help our neighbors and we support our communities.
Right now we are all paying higher prices for everything from our daily bread, to the gasoline for our transportation. I have met some folks in the district, who work hard, sometimes at two jobs, just to make ends meet. And sometimes there is not enough left, so they skip on that doctor visit, because their small business employer doesn’t offer a medical plan, and they can’t afford to pay for insurance. They wait until they get really sick and hope they don’t miss too much work.
Friends, no one should have to do that. Expanding Medicaid in Kansas would help over 150,000 of our neighbors who currently work but have no health insurance. I have been told by my opponent in this house race, that able-bodied people would quit their jobs to be on Medicaid. Friends, I have trouble believing that people would rather be on Medicaid than pay the rent or feed their children. Those Federal Medicaid dollars would simply our tax dollars coming back to Kansas instead of paying for healthcare is some other state.
Helping keep people healthy, so they can keep working hard in our communities is important and Medicaid expansion would do that. Helping 150,000 Kansans is important.
And what about our schools? We pay taxes for our schools, yet the legislature is not fully funding schools. Teachers are not paid as well as they should be and have a retirement plan that ranks 34th in the nation. Our legislature’s retirement ranks 2nd in the nation. What is wrong with this picture? We need our schools fully funded and our teachers taken care of. We want our kids to have the same or better educational opportunity that we had. Public dollars for public schools! We work too hard for our kids not to benefit.