Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin (R) is about to ruffle some feathers.
The new governor, Matt Bevin, getting down to business
Bevin was elected in November 2015 and boy, did it sure tick off the liberals that Kentucky went red. That’s because he’s just Kentucky’s second Republican governor in more than four decades. And he campaigned on eliminating Kentucky’s healthcare exchange. Progressives’ heads are gonna explode when they hear about this!
The Kentucky governor is moving forward with plans to shut down the state’s health insurance exchange. If successful, Kentucky will become the first state to cut ties with one of the key pieces of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law because of a political promise.
Fox News reports that the governor notified federal officials in a letter dated Dec. 30 that the state exchange will cease operations “as soon as is practicable.” That will be at least a year from now, according to federal law. It will not affect health plans sold for 2016.
Kentucky is one of 14 states that run their own state health insurance exchanges. More than 100,000 people have used Kentucky’s exchange (called kynect) to purchase private health insurance plans with the help of a federal subsidy since it was implemented in 2013.
The exchange is paid for with a 1 percent tax on all individual health plans sold in the state, both on and off the exchange. Bevin says about 85,000 people have purchased a private health insurance plan through kynect, or about 2 percent of the population.
Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said the fees from the sale of plans on kynect generate between $2.5 million and $4 million of the approximately $27 million it takes to operate the exchange each year. “A majority of Kentuckians are paying a 1 percent assessment on their own premiums to support kynect operations which they do not use,” Ditto said. Once Kentucky moves to the federal exchange, that tax goes up to 3.5 percent. But the tax is only applied to plans sold on the exchange, Ditto said.
Former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear /UPI Photo
Former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear created the Kentucky state exchange with the help of about $290 million in federal grants. He has estimated it will take at least nine months and cost $23 million to dismantle the system.
“Kentucky’s State-based Marketplace has helped tens of thousands of Kentuckians shop for and purchase quality, affordable health insurance,” said Ben Wakana, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “A successful transition from Kynect to the federal Marketplace will require strong cooperation and commitment from the state of Kentucky to its residents who have gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.”
Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, called Bevin’s decision “a big step backward on access to health care in Kentucky.” Susan Zepeda, president of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said it “raises a lot of questions,” noting state officials had special programs targeting hard-to-reach groups, including veterans and rural residents. “What will be done to sustain these access and equity gains under a new approach?” she said.
DCG
