Topic: Disproportionate Share Program DSH

Interview of Kari Bruffett, May 5, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

This interview contains substantive discussions about health policy changes that have been occurring the last 25 years. Interviewer Bob St. Peter explores Bruffett's interesting career, mostly in Kansas, mostly in health policy, although she started in Washington DC working for Senator Nancy Kassebaum during her final two years in the Senate. Bruffett then joined the staff of newly elected Rep. Jerry Moran, but after 4 years was ready to return to Kansas. She worked with Koch Industries before becoming the Executive Director of the Kansas Republican Party for 4 years. She went to the University Show Moreof Kansas Hospital Authority which was in the middle of a huge transition and navigating its relationship with the medical school. After those years she turned to state government. working on numerous issues such as Medicaid expansion estimates and KanCare. She was asked to be Secretary of the Department for Aging and Disability Services - KDADS. She ended up at the Kansas Health Institute, following St. Peter after he retired. 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