New Republican Gov. Matt Bevin promised in his campaign to do something to roll back the remarkable success Kentucky has achieved since launching Kynect, the state's Obamacare program, and—sure enough— he's begun the process of dismantling the state's popular Kynect health exchange.
The decision drew immediate fire from health care advocates, including Bill Wagner, executive director of the Family Health Centers, a network of public health clinics in Louisville.
"It's a great disappointment," Wagner said. "It's an unwelcome setback in our efforts to reach the number of uninsured people and improve access to health care in Kentucky."
In a Dec. 30 letter to Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bevin said he plans to wind down the state health exchange and transition Kentuckians to the federal site, healthcare.gov, to shop for insurance under the law also known as Obamacare. […]
Bevin's office said Monday in a statement that his goal is to eliminate "the redundancy" of Kentucky's online health exchange.
This switch is estimated to cost the state at least $23 million, but Bevin's rationale is—get this—saving the state money, as he says continuing the program is unsustainable. What's unclear at the moment is how much of Kynect he's going to roll back. In addition to the website it features that allows people to shop for insurance, it included a public information campaign and staff to help people get coverage. Chances are that's out the window.
Bevin has backed away from one of his Kynect campaign promises: He will not be ending the Medicaid expansion that's now providing coverage for 425,000 Kentuckians who would otherwise be uninsured. He does, however, promise that he'll try to change the program to make recipients suffer a little more than they do now. Any plan he comes up with, however, has to be approved by the federal government. The good news in all of this is that people with insurance won't be losing it. The bad news is next year they'll face confusion and a hassle in having to sign up again in a new system.
Kynect is very popular in the state and in fact Kentucky has led the nation, along with Arkansas, in reducing the number of uninsured. Success like that just can't stand, not when it comes from Obamacare and not if you're a tea party governor. There's no other rationale for what Bevin is doing to this remarkably successful program.