Kansas Court Approves Agreement to Provide Hepatitis Treatment For Medicaid Enrollees

A federal district court has approved the agreement requiring the State of Kansas to provide Hepatitis C treatment for all Kansas Medicaid enrollees, without reference to their fibrosis score.

Shook attorneys, led by J. Stan Sexton, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas (ACLU) filed a class action case in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas on behalf of Medicaid recipients who were unable to receive medication if they had only a mild stage of the disease. The initial agreement was approved December 21, 2018. 

“In addition to the 335 people who asked the State of Kansas for HCV drug therapy but were initially denied treatment since 2016, we believe that another 2,600 Medicaid enrollees in the state suffer from HCV and will now also have immediate access, upon request, to these drugs that ‘cure’ this disease,” said Sexton in an ACLU press release. “In 42 years practicing law, obtaining this result for part of our population that has no voice and is easily forgotten, has been one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve had as a lawyer.”