ABSTRACT
Kansans have traditionally approached major policy issues with care, caution, and in a process of open consultation. Health care reform policy, Kansas policymakers found, required more. They discovered that a timely and expansive approach was required to engage the state's chronic health care policy problems. Elected state leaders were uneasy about state government undertaking comprehensive health care reform because the problems driving change were not clear. When legislators focused on problems of access and cost, they found a politically volatile and complex issue. The authority and capacity of the state to engage the problems of cost and access were also restricted. As policy solutions were considered for particular health care problems, the state frequently found that it had only marginal authority to address the problem. Kansas had well-qualified and capable legislative and executive staff to assist in policymaking; however, the state lacked the policy research capability to delve into a policy issue as complex and comprehensive as health care reform.
