Topic: Medical School Loan Program

Interview of Robert Moser, March 10, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

Dr. Moser had an unusual background because he went to pharmacy school before deciding to go to medical school. This interview really highlights the difficulties of practicing medicine in a rural area, and shows Moser's innovations in responding to those challenges. He did his residency in his hometown of Tribune, Kansas. He also credits the business training in Pharmacy school as being helpful in responding to challenges which included workforce issues. To meet that challenge, Dr. Moser used a multijurisdictional approach to expand staffing in both Greely and Wallace counties. Delivering babies was a Show Morerecurring problem - no backup, no personal time. Moser left Tribune in 2010 to work as Governor Brownback's Secretary of Health and Environment but left 3 years later because of opposition to medicaid expansion. In 2014 he joined the Kansas Heart-Stroke Collaborative - a CMS innovation - and also taught population health and family medicine at KU Medical Center. After surveying emergency room data regarding patients who came in with heart attacks and strokes, they were able to develop evidence-based guidelines for rural health care staff that improved patient outcomes. Show Less

Interview of Susan Concannon, June 4, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

This interview really focuses on Susan Concannon's interest in health issues. She discusses managed care, who is on Medicaid, what are the eligibility requirements and who the expansion of Medicaid would impact. She offers some ideas about why the issue never passed-- the woodwork effect, the transition to managed care. She was always a proponent. "I wasn’t really treated as an outcast, but I knew that I differed from many of my Republican colleagues on committee." Concannon was removed from her position as Vice Chair of the House Health Committee as a punishment for her Show Morevotes supporting Medicaid expansion. She noted that the reasons not to vote for expansion changed over time: fiscal note too large; Congress will repeal; waiting list for the I/DD PD was too long; Catholic Church's position on abortion. The interview also explores her views on the national health rankings that have declined for Kansas. She strongly believe that Kansas' decline has been "because of the cuts that we made in social services and with not expanding Medicaid. Access to care is such an issue ... I would guess that the reason we popped back up a little bit is the work that we’ve done in the mental health arena and then the new hospital designation." Show Less