Book of Leviticus may hold the answer to Medicaid expansion and health care in Kansas
Over the past two weeks, I have attended rallies for Medicaid expansion and Mental Health Advocacy Day at the Kansas State Capitol. Gov. Laura Kelly addressed both rallies. I am writing to encourage you to expand Medicaid in Kansas.
A long journey
When my wife and I came to Topeka in 1972 from the East Coast for me to pursue two years of post-doctoral training in clinical psychology at the Menninger Clinic, a large billboard posted at I-70 and MacVicar greeted travelers: “Welcome to Topeka, Psychiatric Capital of the World.”
How the passage of time and the transformation of health care has changed all that.
Living in a city my mother volunteered to go door to door on behalf of the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Association and other charities to ask for modest contributions to those charities. There I was as a child at my mother’s side witnessing her quest and learning about charity.
Growing up in a religious household and attending Sunday school and prayer services, I learned the two most important lessons of many religions: 1) the most important “good deed” one can do is take care of and look after those less fortunate than ourselves and 2) “I am my brother’s keeper.”
Medicaid expansion
150,000 Kansans go to bed each evening and wake up in the morning with an awareness that if they develop a moderate or life-threatening illness they may not have access to life-affirming or life-saving health care. This is not right by any standard or measure.
Related matters
During the last four years of my work at the Menninger Clinic (1972-1995) I had a unique opportunity and experience. I had spent my first 19 years at Menninger treating patients in the Adult and Children’s Hospitals at Menninger. From 1991-1995 I visited with the CEOs, medical directors, network development directors, etc., of about 100 insurance companies across America and about 200 hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices.
I witnessed first hand the transformation taking place in health care in America at that time.
Later, as Kansas made its own good faith effort to enact universal health insurance I shared some of my experiences and knowledge before several committees of the Kansas Legislature.
The moral imperative for Medicaid expansion
During that era, Len Nichols, Ph.D., a health care economist for the New America Foundation, reminded the Kansas Legislature about the concept of “gleaning” from the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. Gleaning is the idea that when the farmer harvests the wheat from the field, he or she sets aside 10% of the harvest for the widow and orphan.
Nichols suggested to the Legislature that a modern day interpretation of gleaning would apply to health care and health care reform. It may be our moral obligation to set aside 10% of our national wealth to provide health care for all our citizens.
Ira Stamm is a longtime Topeka psychotherapist who worked at Menninger from 1972 to 1995.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Book of Leviticus may hold the answer to Medicaid expansion in Kansas
