The “HealthyKansas” plan presented in November by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger has gotten little attention in the current session of the Kansas Legislature. Given the huge increases in the money the state must dedicate to Medicaid payments, however, perhaps legislators should give the plan a second look.

One of the main criticisms of the HealthyKansas plan was its funding source, a 50-cent-per-pack increase in the state tax on cigarettes. Like about any proposal, the tax has positives and negatives. It would provide the necessary funding and tax cigarette smokers, who probably put a higher burden on the state’s health care resources. The resulting cigarette price also might discourage teens from taking up the habit. On the flip side, the tax targets a narrow segment of Kansans, and the revenue it produces might decline if the higher price reduces the number of Kansas smokers.

Another statistic that’s getting attention in the Legislature now, however, is the huge increase in Medicaid costs. The state’s Medicaid costs have risen by 30 percent over the last two years and are expected to rise 9 percent this year to over $2 billion a year. According to state reports, the increase is being driven by families, including many single mothers with children, whose jobs don’t provide health insurance benefits.

The governor’s plan would combine most of the state’s Medicaid programs with the health insurance programs for state employees and retirees. A campaign would try to add 40,000 Kansas children to HealthWave, the state’s existing health insurance program for children from low-income families, and expand HealthWave to cover the uninsured parents of many of those children.

Getting these families in a health insurance program would encourage them to seek checkups and preventative care that might reduce serious illnesses. That, in turn, may lower the state’s cost for their care.

The governor’s plan also would use the state’s clout to try to leverage lower rates for health care and lower costs for prescription drugs. It also includes an effort to subsidize private health insurance plans for low-wage employees of small businesses. Getting private insurance coverage for more workers will keep them off the state’s health care rolls.

The HealthyKansas plan may not be perfect, but it offers some innovative ideas in how to deal with a massive financial problem for the state while providing better care for low-income Kansans. The only alternative proposal offered by state legislators is a small prescription drug plan, whose impact wouldn’t be even close to that of the Sebelius-Praeger plan.

Without some changes, Medicaid costs will continue to eat away at the state’s budget, reducing money available for other purposes like education and transportation. Maybe legislators should take another look at the governor’s plan and see if at least parts of it have some merit for the state.