By Steve Roling on December 24, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
After months of intensive debate, the Senate has passed a health care bill. When Congress comes back to Washington, D.C. after the Holiday break, serious negotiations will begin as House and Senate conferees will debate the final language that will hopefully be sent to the President for his signature. In the 1970’s I worked for […]
By Steve Roling on December 8, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon recently announced another round of very deep and troubling budget cuts. Both Governors’ gave a clear signal that more budget cuts would be forthcoming unless the economy significantly improved very soon. I wonder when one or more of our elected officials will provide leadership and say […]
By Steve Roling on November 23, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
During the Thanksgiving season one year ago I wrote a blog about my Mom celebrating her 90th birthday. Today I am happy to report that my Mom will be celebrating her 91st birthday this week. She is a vibrant person who reads constantly and knows more about national and local news than most people. She […]
By Steve Roling on November 12, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
Sometimes I go months without reading a good book and sometimes I find myself reading two or three books at the same time. Well, I have been reading a lot lately. Two weeks ago Mitch Albom was in Kansas City promoting his new book “have a little faith”. I had bought this new book because […]
By Robert Stiles on November 4, 2009
Primary Care, Bureau of Local and Rural Health, Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Recently, two federal programs that provide loan repayment to providers in Kansas working in underserved areas obtained enhanced federal funding, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program and the Kansas State Loan Repayment Program. On September 1, 2009, the Kansas Primary Care Office received federal funding through the National Health Service Corps for […]
By Steve Roling on October 23, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
The New York Times recently ran a story about the health care system in the state of Hawaii. You can read the entire story on the HCF web site policy page. Since 1974 Hawaii has required all employers to provide health care benefits to employees who work 20 hours a week or more. Is this […]
By Toniann Richard on October 22, 2009
Executive Director, Health Care Coalition of Lafayette County
The Health Care Coalition of Lafayette County (HCC) has been developing the parameters of a county-wide health insurance co-op for the past two years. During the research phase of the program, we were able to determine that nearly 8% of our county was uninsured and that more small businesses were being forced to cut their […]
By Steve Roling on October 5, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
Something wonderful happened in KC last week and very few people noticed. This change will positively affect the lives and health outcomes of thousands of residents. Last week the KCMO Health Department in partnership with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the most comprehensive change in more than thirty years to the […]
By Steve Roling on September 22, 2009
Inaugural President and CEO, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
The health care debate is getting very interesting if you are a social scientist, a researcher, reporter, or political pundit trying to figure out who has the most influence in Congress. For the rest of us who are looking to our elected officials in Washington to fix our current broken health system…these are scary times. […]
By Andrew S. Bailey, MSW on September 18, 2009
Co-Chair, Missouri Association for Social Welfare, Western division
Recently there has been a swarm of press surrounding the issue of health insurance reform. This issue is the subject of one of the most contentious debates this decade, attracting hordes of voters (both for and against) to town-hall meetings and other events. Republicans seem stubbornly opposed to any reform of any type, despite their […]
HCF's Local Health Buzz Blog aims to discuss health and health policy issues that impact the uninsured and underserved in our service area. To submit a blog, please contact HCF Communications Officers, Jennifer Sykes, at .