The Republican healthcare plan that has stalled in the Senate could have a negative affect on school districts.
USD 383 Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid told KMAN during an appearance on In Focus Wednesday that Medicaid restrictions in the bill could increase expenditures for the district.
“Right now, we’re able to get some reimbursement for costs of services for speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy,” Reid said. “So we can basically count some of the hours that our staff provide in services that our students need.”
Reid said Medicaid reimbursements for services amounted to $800,000 this past school year. Reid added the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, started the requirement for schools to offer such services.
Though the act didn’t fully fund the requirement, Reid said schools were allowed to use Medicaid with the proper paper work.
“They’ve never fully funded what they asked us to do, so they said we’ll allow you to do Medicaid reimbursements,” he said. “Basically show us the papers, and we’ll show you the money.
“So we’ve done that better than most districts.”
School districts across the country use Medicaid reimbursements for such services and superintendents estimate such funding for students with disabilities — including students from poor families — amounts to $4 billion per year, according to a Wednesday report by the Chicago Tribune.
If the Senate bill passes as is and is signed by President Trump, Reid said school districts, including USD 383, will have to scramble for funds.
“If we have to transfer that over to picking that up, in our budgets there could be tax increases, it could be cutting other areas, because under federal law, we still have to provide those services, and Medicaid has been something to support that,” he said.
Kansas Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran are split on the bill, with Roberts in support and Moran opposed.
