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County platform pushes to protect Comcare funding and explores Medicaid waiver for social supports
Summary
Staff recommended continued or enhanced state support for Comcare and the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, and discussed pursuing a Medicaid state-plan change to allow up to 5% of medical spending to address social determinants of health for current Medicaid beneficiaries; commissioners questioned political viability and preferred agency-led options.
Sedgwick County staff urged the commission to include appropriations support for Comcare and funding for behavioral-health workforce programs in the county's legislative platform, and floated a policy option for KDHE to pursue a Medicaid state-plan approach permitting up to 5% of medical spending to be used for nonclinical social determinants of health (housing, nutrition, transportation) for existing Medicaid beneficiaries.
Staff described the approach as a way to leverage federal matching funds to address upstream needs that affect health outcomes. "It's just an opportunity to use some federal funding that's matched 60 40 to address these needs that impact health of this particular population," staff said. Consultants and several commissioners cautioned that phrases such as "social determinants of health" are politically sensitive in the current legislature and suggested the county also explore agency-led options outside a bill.
Commissioners asked staff to seek follow-up with KDHE and the Medicaid director to determine whether the agency could pursue a waiver administratively and to return with a shorter, palm-card-ready language for advocacy. The commission placed continued funding for community mental-health services and center-of-excellence workforce support on its platform discussion list but did not finalize a short-list prioritization at the meeting.
