Opinion

OPINION – Deficits on the horizon as state spending explodes

GUEST COLUMN, Dave Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute

How do you go from having a $3 billion budget surplus and stable tax revenue to broke in just a few years? By repeatedly spending more than you take in.

General Fund spending has pretty much been out of control since 2018, the year after the Legislature passed the largest tax increase in state history. There was a brief dip in 2022 during the Great Recession; however, spending subsequently exploded.

Spending would have been approximately $8.4 billion in FY 2025 (the year ended June 30) if it had merely increased in line with inflation, but actual spending was $10.9 billion. That’s a 64 percent jump over seven years, while inflation was 27 percent.

OPINION – Doctors want lower drug costs, but not like this

GUEST COLUMN, Peter Rheinstein, Severn Health Solutions

Roughly 30 percent of American patients have skipped doses of their medicines, cut pills in half, or declined to fill a prescription due to cost concerns in the past year.

These affordability struggles aren’t merely personal tragedies. They’re a threat to public health. My fellow doctors know all too well what happens when patients don’t adhere to their prescribed treatment regimens — their health spirals, and they often need more expensive interventions.

Reforms to make medicines more affordable are urgently needed. But unfortunately, both Republicans and Democrats keep embracing a proposal that, though well-intended, would unintentionally make American patients, doctors, and biotech workers worse off.

OPINION – Medicaid Truth: Grow the cow, get more milk

GUEST COLUMN, Dane Hicks, Kaninfo.com

Among the most ignored stories of Trump II is the administration’s confrontation of the stifling abuse of the federal Medicaid program – a story being buried by the mainstream media in hopes you’ll ignore this reality and obsess about Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle Jeans commercial right up to the 2026 midterms.

It’s also set to be the round robin issue of the coming Kansas Legislative session, as Governor Laura Kelly takes one final shot to convince or cajole the Republican-dominated state legislature to allow 130,000 new and able-bodied Kansans a place on the state Medicaid rolls.

Farm fit summer

GUEST COLUMN, Kim Baldwin, Kansas Farm Bureau

The time has come to send the kids back to school. I always tell people that my kids are excited when school ends for the year, but after a summer on the farm they are equally as excited to return to school in the fall. This year is no different.

We’ve spent the last week shopping for school clothes and supplies, completing sports physicals, updating vaccines, studying class schedules, getting haircuts and have generally worked on getting our two kids cleaned up and ready after a summer on the farm.

The Church: a worldview of politics

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

In today’s divided world, politics can feel like a minefield. But as Christians, we can navigate elections, debates, and divisions with a worldview that seeks to uplift God and bring reconciliation. Politics have to do with persuasion, and through politics, citizens gain what government offers. Divisiveness may seem severe in this century, but in teaching US history, the country has always dealt with animosity; for example, between the supporters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800s.