More than two months behind schedule, the Kansas City Council has approved $31.5 million in contracts for funds from the city’s decades-old health levy.
After a sometimes controversial procurement process, the council voted unanimously on July 9 to award one-year contracts to six safety-net healthcare providers — University Health, Children’s Mercy, Swope Health, Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, KC CARE Health Center and Northland Health Care Access.
Under the contracts, the providers receive subsidies from city property tax dollars for treating the city’s poorest residents. The health levy, which brings in about $70 million in annual revenue, also funds the health department and other city programs…