Remember: Expanding Medicaid brings billions of dollars into Kentucky and saves our regional hospitals. Cutting Medicaid costs Kentucky taxpayers billions in lost revenue, lost jobs and lost lives.
Joe Sonka details the "changes" that Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin has made
to his planned waiver of Medicaid expansion, which the federal
government basically told him that he wasn't going to get approved.
Bevin apparently doesn't give a damn and is submitting it anyway, and
is daring the Department of Health and Human Services to tell him to
piss off so he can blame somebody else when Kentucky Republicans take
health coverage away from ten percent of the state.
Under the waiver proposal dubbed Kentucky HEALTH
and first unveiled in June, individuals with income up to 138 percent of
the federal poverty rate would still be eligible for expanded Medicaid,
though “able-bodied” persons would have to pay a monthly premium to
maintain coverage and could be locked out from coverage if payments are
missed. Such individuals also would no longer be automatically eligible
for benefits such as vision and dental, having to earn credits in their
My Rewards Account by having health risk assessments, volunteering,
taking smoking cessation classes, having a job or being in school.
Bevin reiterated in a press release announcing the submission of the 87-page waiver on Wednesday
that his plan would lead to better health outcomes, ensure the
long-term sustainability of the state’s Medicaid program — as Kentucky
must begin to kick in a small percentage of costs for covering the
expanded population next year — and “familiarize members with commercial
insurance and prepare them for self-sufficiency.”
“The
submission of this waiver is the result of many months of extensive
research, planning and time spent traveling the state listening to
Kentuckians,” said Bevin in his press release. “Kentucky HEALTH will
allow us to continue to provide expanded Medicaid coverage, but unlike
the current Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, it will do so in a
fiscally responsible manner that ensures better health outcomes for
recipients.”
The major scam here is the "My
Rewards Account", like any health savings account you put money into to
cover your medical expenses, but you lose all the money in it at the end
of the year. It's a tax on people who are bad at predicting exactly
how sick they'll get in the course of 12 months, underestimate it and
you lose your coverage for non-payment of premiums, overestimate it and
you pay the state extra tax money you really can't afford. It's a fun
guessing game, and the winner is Bevin, every time.
While
Bevin’s proposal had received wide praise from Republican officials in
Kentucky, health care advocacy groups have expressed concern that
requiring premiums and locking people out of coverage for failure to
make payments would serve as an obstacle to many low-income individuals
and families gaining Medicaid insurance. HHS also has emphasized that
states seeking a waiver to alter its Medicaid expansion may not limit
access to coverage or benefits by conditioning eligibility on work or
other activities, impose premiums or cost sharing at levels preventing
low-income individuals from accessing coverage, or penalize people for
needing Medicaid coverage for multiple years.
When
unveiling his proposal in June, Bevin warned that if HHS does not
approve the waiver, then “there will not be expanded Medicaid in the
state of Kentucky,” an indication that he would either repeal the
executive order of former Gov. Beshear to expand Medicaid — which
resulted in over 400,000 people receiving coverage — or decline to
reauthorize it next year. When asked what he would do if HHS only
approved of 90 percent of Kentucky’s waiver proposal, Bevin said at the
time that there is still a “negotiating process” going forward.
HHS
press secretary Marjorie Connolly released the following statement
after Gov. Bevin’s announcement, again praising the success of
Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion over the past few years and indicating
that the process going forward could still take considerable time.
“Kentucky’s
Medicaid expansion has been very successful in improving health
coverage, access to care, health outcomes, and financial security for
its citizens,” said Connolly. “HHS has been clear that, as we begin the
review of this application, we will assess it based on longstanding
Medicaid principles of access to coverage and affordability of care. As
in other states, we are prepared to continue dialogue for as long as it
takes to find a solution that maintains and builds on Kentucky’s
historic progress, and avoids moving backwards.”
Except backwards is exactly where Bevin is heading with this. He's
holding health insurance coverage for 400,000 plus Kentuckians hostage,
and either he gets what he wants or the people of the Bluegrass State
get it right between the eyes.
That's our governor!
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