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Wednesday’s meeting in Independence was largely attended by political candidates and elected officials, which gave medical professionals like Stewart a platform to explain what they are experiencing since the closure of Mercy Hospital and how the lack of Medicaid expansion has sent the uninsured to emergency rooms, community clinics and jails for medical care. Sheldon Weisgrau of the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved in Topeka said Montgomery County has more than 3,600 uninsured residents, including about 1,400 who would be eligible for Medicaid under expanded eligibility. “At $4,229 per person per year, that means Medicaid expansion would have brought $5.9 million to Montgomery County,” said Weisgrau, adding that expansion also could have led to the creation of as many as 38 medical jobs in Montgomery County. (Taylor, 7/21)

Expanding Medicaid coverage to nearly all low-income adults of working age would help Florida reduce the numbers of uninsured people in the state while lowering the risk of Zika infection among pregnant women, according to two reports released Tuesday. The nonprofit Urban Institute, in a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, argues that adopting Medicaid expansion in 2017 would reduce Florida's uninsured population by about 877,000 people. (Chang, 7/20)