KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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Kasey and Tim Jackson said they sold their beauty brand company so they could stay by their 13-year-old son's side during his leukemia treatments at Children's Mercy.
On Tuesday, Children’s Mercy told families changes to ACA Marketplace plans could affect their insurance coverage for care at the hospital beginning Jan. 1, 2027.
The hospital said it wants to participate in Marketplace networks serving the area, but health plans have chosen not to include Children's Mercy as an in-network provider.
Elijah Jackson was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 8 and relapsed in July 2025.
“As entrepreneurs, we don’t really have access to a group plan, so we have to go through the ACA (Affordable Care Act) because there’s nobody that will provide private insurance for a kid with a pre-existing condition," Kasey Jackson said.
Medica, an insurer that provides ACA coverage, is leaving Wyandotte and Johnson counties' ACA Marketplace coverage in 2027, according to the Kansas Department of Insurance.
The Jacksons live in Johnson County. The couple said they selected Medica for 2026 because it was their only ACA Marketplace option that currently covers care at Children's Mercy.
The Jacksons said almost every year they have to select a new policy because the ACA Marketplace options change, but that there has always been at least one option that covers the specialized care Children's Mercy offers.
"For us to have insurance stripped away as self-employed people, I think we both spent the morning updating our resumes and hopping on LinkedIn to figure out — we need an emergency solution because our kid can’t go without care," Tim Jackson said.
Children's Mercy told families to contact their insurer to get information about available options and that the hospital will help families with "potential options" for accessing out-of-network care.
Insurance regulators in both Kansas and Missouri said Children’s Mercy did not notify them about its network concerns before the hospital issued its public statement on Tuesday.
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The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance said it is not aware of any plans by health insurance carriers to drop Children's Mercy from its provider networks in 2027.
"DCI wants to stress that, based on the most current information it has received, it does not believe most Missourians who get their health coverage through their employer will experience any changes to their health plan’s network access," DCI said in a press release. "This issue is isolated to health plans sold in the individual market."
The Kansas Department of Insurance told KSHB 41 News it reached out to Children's Mercy "and clarified that Medica departing the Individual ACA Marketplace in Johnson and Wyandotte counties for 2027 is at the root of their concern."
"The Department is in the process of contacting CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), who holds network adequacy jurisdiction for Individual ACA Marketplace plans, as the Kansas Department of Insurance does not have the statutory authority to review, approve or enforce network adequacy standards for individual health plans sold on the Marketplace," the Kansas department said in an email to KSHB 41 News.
KSHB 41 News reached out to CMS Wednesday. The center said it could take up to 24 and 48 hours to issue a response.
“There’s nowhere else for us to go," Kasey Jackson said. "If we didn’t have Children’s Mercy, we literally would not be able to get care for our son.”
Kasey Jackson said she thinks her family will find a solution by Jan. 1, but she worries for other families at Children's Mercy who may not be able to do the same.
"This is so fast," she said. "What are parents supposed to do?”
Kasey took her concerns to social media, gaining hundreds of thousands of views on her videos about the situation.
She said because of her videos, she received a call from Children's Mercy but she still has questions.
“It is completely understandable to us as parents and donors to Children’s Mercy to ask these questions of, 'What is the bottom line going on at Children’s Mercy? Why can’t you make this deal?'" she said.
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