Democracy has been called the “marketplace of ideas,” and, for more than 150 years, the men and women in the Kansas Legislature have served as the brokers of ideas for improving life in our state.

In recent years, though, one policy idea to improve the lives of Kansans has been suppressed along with the voices of legislators who dared to support it.

Expanding our state’s Medicaid program would extend health coverage to 150,000 Kansans, inject hundreds of millions of dollars into our state economy, create jobs and help our hospitals — and the federal government would pay nearly all of the cost. It is little wonder that two in three Kansans support this policy idea.

However, our governor and legislative leadership continue to simply say “no” to Medicaid expansion.

The arguments we hear today against Medicaid expansion are not new. In 1998, Republican Bill Graves was governor and I was chair of the Senate Health Committee. States had a similar opportunity from the federal government to expand health coverage for Kansans under the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Like today, opponents said we should not expand an already burdensome program. However, unlike today, the opportunity was not simply refused, but discussed openly.

Legislators across the political spectrum agreed that Kansas’ current Medicaid program was not perfect, and that the favorable federal funding gave us an opportunity to improve it, while also extending coverage to many more Kansas children. So we began by setting goals that we could all agree upon, and worked together to improve our state’s program. What resulted was a policy that enjoyed broad-based support and passed easily.

Today, we could be looking at Medicaid expansion in the same way. Expansion waivers are intended to encourage innovation and let states tailor programs to specific needs. This is an opportunity for Kansas to accomplish agreed upon goals, like connecting more people to work, reducing the costs of uninsured Kansans, and addressing flaws in our current health coverage program.

We have done this before. Kansas has consistently taken advantage of new federal funding to improve our state’s own programs. Why should the opportunity to expand KanCare be any different?

— Sandy Praeger, a former Kansas insurance commissioner, is a Republican and a resident of Lawrence.