In the News

Expecting and new parents, this may affect you. It's called the "birthday rule."

Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids (D) introduced legislation last week hoping to make the process easier when the rule applies to families.

It's a long-standing practice by insurance companies. When both parents have separate insurance and a baby needs care at birth, in some states they will bill the parent's insurance who has the earlier birthday. Even if it's not what parents planned on.

The birth of 2-year-old Charlie was a blessing for the Kjelshus family, but immediately she struggled.

When Kayla Kjelshus gave birth to her first child, the infant spent seven days in the neonatal intensive care unit, known as the NICU. This stressful medical experience was followed by an equally stressful financial one. Because of an obscure health insurance policy called the "birthday rule," Kjelshus and her husband, Mikkel, were hit with an unexpected charge of more than $200,000 for the NICU stay.

By Katie Adams

In January, a Kansas couple shared the story of how they received a $270,951 medical bill after the birth of their first child — even though they're both insured. Now, a state representative is proposing legislation to ensure stories like theirs don't happen again.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., on Thursday introduced a bill aimed at helping expecting parents make the choice over which parent's insurance will cover their newborn's health care.

The bill will cut red tape, avoid surprise bills and let parents, not an insurance company, make the decision on insurance, according to Rep. Davids.

A bizarre insurance loophole put one Olathe couple $270,000 in debt after their newborn's NICU stay.

This loophole gives insurers the power to decide which parent's health care policy will cover the new baby. The deciding factor? Whichever parent's birthday comes first in the calendar year.

Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids' new bill seeks to change the little-known law nicknamed "The Birthday Rule" and ensure this doesn't happen again.

• Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas Representative (D-KS-03)
• Mikell Kjelshus, member of local family affected by "Birthday Rule"

By Johnathan Shorman

When Mikkel and Kayla Kjelshus' daughter, Charlie, was born in the Kansas City area with complications that required intensive care, it was obvious the medical bills would be expensive.

They were prepared. Both parents had insurance and planned to use Kayla's, with its better rates, for Charlie's primary coverage.

Last week, Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas District 3 toured Dentec Safety Specialists in Lenexa, a manufacturer that used federal funding to pivot their business from construction materials to needed medical supplies during the pandemic, according to a press release.

Davids and Dentec Chief Executive Officer Claudio Dente highlighted the company's reusable respirators — a product recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — as a "critical" innovation for healthcare workers.

By Chris Oberholtz

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids announced Friday that the Restaurant Revitalization Fund granted more than $46 million in pandemic relief aid to 165 small businesses in Kansas City.

The Biden administration launched the program in January to give a lifeline to restaurants across the country that were forced by the government to either shut down or limit their operations. The fund provided a total of $28.6 billion in aid to more than 100,000 US restaurants, according to the US Small Business Administration.