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Overland Park company moves to Missouri, slams Kansas policies

Posted at 6:01 PM, Jun 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-16 19:27:19-04

CEO Jeff Blackwood of the company Pathfinder Health Innovations is going viral for his criticism of Kansas and Gov. Sam Brownback.

"I can't in good conscience continue to give our tax money to a government that actively works against the needs of its citizens,” reads the blog post on his company's website.

It’s part of his blog explaining why he is moving his offices from Overland Park over to the Missouri side in The Crossroads. One reason is because of Kansas' plans to cut $56 million to Kansas Medicaid, including $32 million from Kancare. Blackwood says not enough is being done to help the mentally disabled. 

His company provides organizational help for therapists, like Katrina Ostmeyer, who works with kids with autism. She says the cuts are hurting the nonprofit organization Integrative Behavioral Technologies.

"We run into roadblocks because we can't get paid, so really we keep running into these roadblocks where we can't afford to preform services,” said Ostmeyer. 

"A state that has systematically targeted the citizens in most need, denying them critical care and reducing these costs of life as if they're simply a tax burden, that shouldn't be ignored,” said Blackwood. 

A representative for the governor's office gave us the following response: 

"While we are not familiar with that particular company’s situation, we do know that Governor Brownback’s tax policy has attracted a record-setting number of new businesses for five consecutive years, most recently totaling 17,298 new Kansas businesses in 2015.”

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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com

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