Busyness in Topeka - and Katy part 3
A preview of what's up, and how you can help an "able bodied adult" who is fighting cancer, raising her son, and trying to keep her career going - without health insurance
I’ll start with what is an unexpected Part 3 to the story about Katy Everitt - the Topeka hair stylist who is battling ovarian cancer that has spread to her liver.
I featured her in the last two episodes of That Podcast in Hutch. If you haven’t listened to them, I highly encourage you to do so. You’ll learn a lot I’m almost certain you didn’t know about the beauty industry, and you’ll learn what a person has to do when the medical bills pile up and there’s no way to pay them.
Here’s the link to info on the podcast.
Since my interview with Katy, I’ve learned there is legal action to collect on her mounting medical debt related to her cancer treatment. I’ve also learned that Katy has been reluctant to ask for any sort of help. Until recently, she hadn’t talked to many of her friends or acquaintances about her health issues. Last week, I asked Katy if she’d be OK if I, along with a couple of her friends, set up a Go Fund Me to help raise money for her. I can be persuasive, and she eventually agreed.
So here it is (Fun fact, Medical debt is the No. 1 reason people set up a Go Fund Me).
If you can afford to help, I’d appreciate it. And if you can’t, help us out by sharing this with your friends and contacts. Every bit of money and exposure helps.
I’m frankly mad that this is what we have to do to help people stay alive. In Kansas, we’ve had chance after chance to expand Medicaid - and that would’ve helped someone like Katy. But there’s no will to do it, mostly because of an ideological objection to anything that might be considered growing a government program. The argument of cost is gone - since the feds are offering a sweet deal to lower the cost of those currently on Medicaid by upwards of $70 million a year if we’d just accept expansion. That enticement would cover the cost of expansion for nearly 10 years, and it harms the state budget to not accept expansion.
The rhetoric around this issue is frankly disturbing to me. We talk about “able bodied adults” like they are some sort of subhuman group lurking around waiting for reasons to not work. That’s not true. They are people like Katy who are doing everything these same people say they want people doing - working, taking care of their families, trying to build a career and future. Sometimes things happen - like the loss of a job, or cancer - and it disrupts the best laid plans. In Kansas, it seems there’s a group that feels pretty alright about letting people suffer, so long as they get to be right.
And I’m tired of people who have never had to worry about such things tell the rest of us that we should try harder at life, get a different job, or maybe not get sick.
I’ve received a decent amount of feedback after Katy’s episodes - some from salon owners, who have said they can’t afford health insurance and paid time off for employees - and if they did pay for those, you and me wouldn’t be able to afford our haircuts.
At some point we will have to recognize that policies like Medicaid Expansion aren’t just pro people, they are pro small business. Our favorite locally owned places are competing for labor against big corporations that can afford benefits. If we want to help these small businesses survive, we will have to address the barriers their employees face, or risk losing them.
Now, what’s happening in the legislature
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind - and now we’ve reached the stage of the legislative session where we’re debating a fat stack of bills each day on the House floor.
On Monday, we passed out 29 bills - most of which were non-controversial and passed in overwhelming bipartisan fashion.
Tuesday, however, is likely to look much different. We have 11 bills up for debate, and the majority of them seem poised to create some hearty debate.
Here’s what’s up. I decided to have a little fun with the explainers.
H Sub Sub SB 267 - The state’s budget
H Sub Sub HB 2512 - Education budget, and policy created by not education experts
SB 493 - Kansas acts like the Feds and usurps local control on plastic containers
HB 2609 - Allowing restricted drivers to go to and from church activities
HB 2717 - Kansas acts like the Feds and usurps local control on immigration
Sub HB 2737 - The House redistricting maps
SB 161 - The Robots are coming - allows robots to deliver your Amazon packages
Sub HB 2615 - People who can afford private school talkin’ bout school choice
SB 199 - Extending the life of insurance plans that will shorten your life
HB 2631 - Enacting the career technical education credential, increasing funding
SB 367 - Requiring officers to file receipts when property is seized