Geary County Commissioner Larry Hicks was among representatives from Geary, Riley, and Pottawatomie counties to attend a meeting sponsored by the Center for Community Support and Research at Wichita State University.

Hick said that the Center is soliciting the Health Departments to suggest to them that there are avenues to deal with medicaid issues more effectively. Many people do not understand medicaid or its benefits.

He noted there are also stigmas associated with medicaid for people in low income categories, so they often do not use it. “The objectives that many of them came up with were how to go about trying to challenge the stigmas that are associated with people who are medicaid recipients.”

Hicks noted he also discussed how the politicization of the issue needs to stop at some point. “There be more of a focus discussed on the impact of what it represents to people of the state of Kansas by not receiving it.”

Hicks confirmed this is a work  in progress at this point.