Blood On Their Hands: Bevin and Trump Order 95,000 Kentuckians to Death By Neglect

Even their lies are pathetically obvious. They're not even trying to hide that their goal is to eliminate everyone who is not white, male, straight, rich and republican.


From the Herald:

The Trump administration has again approved new rules for some of Kentucky’s Medicaid population, requiring them to either get a job, volunteer in the community or go to school to keep their government-funded health coverage.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced the approval on Tuesday, nearly five months after a federal judge blocked the state’s first attempt. State officials say the new rules can begin as soon as April 1 and will be phased in regionally over several months. They will require adults ages 19 to 64, with some exceptions, to complete at least 80 hours per month of “community engagement” to keep their health benefits. That includes getting a job, looking for a job, going to school, volunteering for community service or taking a job training course.

What's the catch?  Working people on Medicaid will have to verify their working hours every month. So, you're struggling with three jobs and taking care of your kids but you have to drop everything and drive to the nearest Medicaid office - oh, you don't have a car?  Well you can call the Medicaid office - oh, you aren't allowed to make personal calls at work so you can't call during business hours? Well, you can go online ... oh, you live in the 95 percent of Kentucky that has no reliable wi-fi?  Well, guess you're shit out of luck.  And the Bevin-Trump plan is working like a charm.

Kentucky is one of 37 states that has expanded its government-funded health insurance program to include low-income adults with no children and no disabilities. More than 400,000 people signed up for the program, dramatically dropping the state’s uninsured rate and propping up some rural hospitals who depend on the revenue.

But Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has criticized the program, saying it is too expensive and does not make Kentucky’s citizens healthier as the state is still behind most of the country in some key health indicators.

Because the best way to make people healthier is to .... wait for it .... take away their health insurance.

Kentucky Voices for Health, an advocacy group, said they were “deeply disappointed” with the decision. Executive Director Emily Beauregard said during the public comment process, thousands of Kentuckians said access to health care was vital to their ability to be productive and successful.

“Reapproving a waiver that makes hardworking Kentuckians jump through hoops to keep their coverage will no doubt have the opposite effect,” she said.

It's perfectly clear.  If you are not white, male, straight, rich, xian and republican, the people who are those things want you dead.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article222012570.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article222012570.html#storylink=cpy

How the Free Market Kills People

This is capitalism without regulation, without universal health care, without anti-monopoly and anti-price-gouging laws and heavy enforcement.  This is killing poor people for profit.

Did you know there is an actual vaccine against HIV and has been for six fucking years?  But unless you can afford $20,000 a year for it, you're fucked.

Erik Loomis at LGM:

Well, this is infuriating.

On July 3, 1981, this newspaper wrote about a “rare cancer” killing gay men in New York and California. Though few knew it, what followed would be a generation-defining battle: for attention, for legitimacy, for our very lives. Today, after 37 years, we finally have a proven pathway to ending the AIDS epidemic in this country.

The only catch? Poor policy and pharmaceutical price-gouging have blocked the way, making critical drugs a luxury rather than an imperative.

The solution comes in a pill: Taken daily, Truvada, the brand name for a type of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is up to 99 percent effective at preventing H.I.V. infection. Used as directed, it’s one of the most effective methods of preventing a viral infection ever discovered, as good as the polio vaccine, the miracle of modern medicine. When you combine PrEP’s effectiveness with the discovery that people living with H.I.V. cannot transmit the virus to others once they become undetectable, we could be on the verge of a swift end to the epidemic.

Truvada was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012. But over six years later, the United States is failing miserably in expanding its use. Less than 10 percent of the 1.2 million Americans who might benefit from PrEP are actually getting it. The major reason is quite clear: pricing. With a list price over $20,000 a year, Truvada, the only PrEP drug available in the United States, is simply too expensive to become the public health tool it should be.

Gilead Sciences, the company that makes Truvada, maintains a monopoly on the drug domestically. In other countries, a one-month supply of generic Truvada costs less than $6, but Gilead charges Americans, on average, more than $1,600, a markup from the generic of 25,000 percent.

Infuriatingly, American taxpayers and private charities — not Gilead — paid for almost all of the clinical research used to develop Truvada as PrEP. Yet the price stays out of reach for millions, and will for at least several more years.

The disparities in PrEP access are astounding: Its use in black and Hispanic populations is a small fraction of that among whites. In the South, where a majority of H.I.V. infections occur, use is half what it is in the Northeast. Women use PrEP at drastically lower rates than men, and while there’s no national data on PrEP and transgender Americans, it’s almost certainly underused. The issue of PrEP access has become an issue of privilege.

But hey, what is more important in New Gilded Age health care than very rich people making even more money? Actually, I know the answer–it’s taxpayers funding the research that rich people make even more profit from and terrible racial and gendered disparities.

KY Will Lose $11.7 BILLLION Under Latest Trumpcare

No, our trumpie-ass-kissing repug governor will not save us.  He wants all the non-white, non-rich, non-repugs to die in a ditch, too.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation report,  Kentucky will lose $6.3 billion in Medicaid funds before repugs murder it in 2026.  KY will lose an additional $5.4 billion in ACA funds before repugs murder it, too, in 2026.

The two main provisions in the Graham-Cassidy proposal—converting ACA coverage expansions to a block grant to states and converting traditional Medicaid financing to a federal per enrollee cap—affect coverage for more than 80 million Americans and have substantial implications for states’ ability to finance health coverage for their residents. Most states would lose federal funding under this proposal over the period 2020-2026. Because overall funding for health coverage is lower under the bill than we project under current law, the number of people uninsured would likely grow.

The Rude Pundit:

But this isn't just an anti-blue state or anti-Obama bill. It's anti-human, as in "inhumane," as in "devoid of humanity." Which is the motto of the Republican Party.

Our Other Senator, AynRandy Paul is currently one of three votes needed to stop this monstrosity.  He'll cave, because he always cave.  Unless you buck him up.  Call him right now.  (502) 582-5341 or 270-782-8303 or (202) 224-4343.  Call all three.  Keep calling.

Now They'll Kill Obamacare Anyway

Kevin Drum:

By the way, here's how the Journal's article begins:

With the collapse of Republicans’ health plan in the House on Friday, the Trump administration is set to ramp up its efforts to weaken the Affordable Care Act in one of the few ways it has left—by making changes to the law through waivers and rule changes.

Obamacare won't implode on its own, but it might after Trump does everything he can to sabotage it.

Easiest way is to remove all the subsidies that keep Obamacare alive.  Cut those, and affordable health care dies.  

President Abandons Kentuckians to Bevin's No Health Care for You! Plan

I don't understand.  Kentucky is the shining star of Obamacare.  The proof that it works not just to get health care to working people, but to start actually eliminating generational poverty. Without Kynect, Obamacare is just a liberal wet dream.

There is no excuse for this. But I know what's going to happen now.  Hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians will be unable to get health insurance because the mal-administration of Gov. Lying Coward will not just not lift a finger to help, but will throw obstacles in the path of anyone who tries.

We. Are. So. Fucked.

From the AP:

Federal officials have approved Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to dismantle the state health exchange.

The exchange, known as kynect, was launched in 2013 and has been a way for Kentucky residents to shop for health insurance or enroll in Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. After Nov. 1, people in Kentucky will use the federal health exchange to find coverage.

 The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/2dcPq3W ) said the approval was given Tuesday, but Andrew Slavitt of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department says the agency is concerned about the transition's impact on those who gained coverage through kynect. Slavitt said in a letter to Bevin that it's important the transition be clearly explained to consumers.

Bevin, a Republican, vowed to dismantle the health initiatives of previous Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat who took full advantage of federal health care law.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article105966102.html#storylink=cpy

Gov. Lying Coward's Plan to Strip Health Care From 400,000 Kentuckians

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.

Zandar and Joe Sonka nail Bevin on killing Medicaid:

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! 

 

 

Proof Bevin is Trying to Make Working Kentuckians Sicker and Poorer

Kevin Drum:

Noam Levey reports on some new research about Medicaid expansion:

“The effects of expanding coverage will be an unfolding story over time,” said Dr. Benjamin Sommers, lead author of the study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine....Sommers and other researchers at Harvard University have been tracking the effect of Medicaid expansion by surveying some 9,000 poor residents in Arkansas and Kentucky, both of which expanded Medicaid eligibility, and in Texas, which has rejected the expansion.

In Arkansas and Kentucky, the share of poor adults without health insurance plummeted between 2013 and 2015, from more than 40% in both states to 14% in Arkansas and less than 9% in Kentucky.

In Texas, by contrast, the uninsured rate dropped only from 39% to 32%.Although Texas has not expanded Medicaid, state residents have been able to buy health insurance on the new insurance marketplaces that were also created by the law.

The new coverage in Arkansas and Kentucky dramatically improved poor patients’ access to care and relieved financial strains, the surveys show.

Billionaire Bevin is actually trying to reverse this by eliminating the Medicaid expansion by Governor Steve Beshear that has made 400,000 Kentuckians healthier and less poor.  AND cost Kentucky taxpayers $2 billion in Medicaid payments from the federal government that are the only thing keeping dozens of rural hospitals alive.

Hard to imagine how anyone could inflict more actual, lethal harm on the Commonwealth than Governor Lying Coward is doing right now.

Feds to Bevin on Killing Medicaid: Back Off, Motherfucker

Because Bevin really, really wants to deny healthcare to hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians, close every rural hospital and cost the taxpayers billions of dollars.

 

Deborah Yetter at the Courier:

A coalition of health advocacy groups has blasted Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to restructure the state Medicaid plan "as a giant step backward for Kentucky."

"This plan threatens to undermine the health and economic gains we have made in the past two years," said the written comments filed last week by Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of about 200 groups and individuals.

SNIP

Meanwhile, a top federal official who must approve the changes has raised questions about Bevin's plan to dismantle or restructure health initiatives, including the Medicaid expansion launched by his predecessor, Steve Beshear, under the Affordable Care Act.

Bevin, a Republican, has pledged to dismantle kynect in favor of the federal site, healthcare.gov, and scale back the Medicaid expansion of Beshear, a Democrat.

Sylvia Burwell, U.S. secretary of health and human services, raised concerns about Bevin's plans for Medicaid expansion, citing the "historic improvements" in health coverage for Kentuckians. She also questioned Bevin's plans for dismantling kynect, the state health insurance exchange where people may shop for private plans or enroll in Medicaid.

Burwell addressed the proposed changes in two separate letters last week – one to Bevin and one to Beshear.

In a July 20 letter to Bevin, Burwell described his plans to dismantle kynect as "highly aggressive" and said it is uncertain whether "we can confirm a transition will be possible this year."

As for Bevin's plan to restructure the Medicaid expansion, Burwell, in a separate letter to Beshear, said her agency will review Bevin's request in light of federal law directing that any changes strengthen coverage and increase access to health care.

"As you know, Kentucky's Medicaid expansion has led to one of the biggest reductions of uninsured people in America," said Burwell, responding to a May 9 letter from Beshear questioning Bevin's plans for Medicaid. "We are committed to the principle that any changes to the program maintain or build on the historic improvements Kentucky has seen in access to coverage, access to care and financial security, rather than take the state backward."

What Matt Bevin Wants to Replace Kynect

It's saved 400,000 Kentuckians from pain, disability, poverty and death, but it came from That Ni**er in the White House, so it has to go.

Bevin claims he's just going to put everyone back on the national Obamacare, but he won't admit that his fellow repugs in Congress are working hard to kill Obamacare and return all of us to the tender mercies of the unregulated private insurance market.

Down with Tyranny

QOTD: KY Governor's Race

Zandar:

As I've repeatedly said, the entire point of Republicans killing Medicaid expansion is simple: you either die or move to another state.  Either way, you're no longer that state's problem.

Bevin absolutely is running for governor of the Commonwealth on that platform, and right now he's ahead in the polls because of it.  Meanwhile, Jack Conway is going to learn that as with Alison Lundergan Grimes, if you run away from Obama, you're going to lose.

"The Affordable Care Act is Here to Stay"

Don't just take a victory lap, Mr. President.  Rub their fucking noses in it.  You won, they lost, and that's what the history books are going to say forever.



Full transcript here.

kynect Is Doomed No Matter Which Repug Becomes Governor

Really, NPR?  You think Comer or Heiner were going to save Kentucky Obamacare? Fuck, if the state House goes repug in 2016, not even the president's BFF Steve Beshear could save kynect from the repug armageddon.

More than 500,000 people have gotten health insurance in Kentucky through the state's health care exchange Kynect and through expanded Medicaid. Kentucky has seen the second-steepest drop in uninsured of any state.

Supporters of the health care law point to it as one of the success stories, but the man who very well could become the state's next governor is vowing to "dismantle" Kynect and cancel the Medicaid expansion.

"We will have a very spirited discussion as it relates to health care in our state. Trust me on that," vowed Republican Matt Bevin, the surprising apparent winner of the contentious GOP gubernatorial primary. The Tea Party-backed Bevin finished just 83 votes ahead of James Comer, the state's agriculture commissioner, out of more than 200,000 votes.

SNIP

In Kentucky, the governor has the power to unilaterally create or disband programs like Kynect, Cross said. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear chose to both set up a state exchange and expand Medicare. But he is term-limited.

Bevin, a venture capitalist who lost badly in a Senate primary last year to Mitch McConnell, would face off with Democrat Jack Conway. Conway, the state attorney general, starts as a slight favorite, but Kentucky is a conservative state, and Conway struggled in his 2010 Senate bid against Republican Rand Paul.

Bevin made getting rid of Kynect and the Medicaid expansion central to his campaign. He is also vowing to implement right-to-work laws and shrink government, in part, through attrition of public-sector workers.

SNIP

But now it will be Bevin's policies that come under sharper scrutiny. He argues the state cannot afford the Medicaid expansion, which was the biggest reason for the drop in the uninsured. Federal funds currently pay for it, but that money will eventually go away.

"The fact that we have one out of four people in this state on Medicaid is unsustainable; it's unaffordable," Bevin said during the campaign, "and we need to create jobs in this state, not more government programs to cover people."

But Medicaid expansion is different than Kynect, which has been held up as one of the best-functioning state exchanges in the country.

"He won't get away with it," Cross maintained of Bevin's promise to get rid of Kynect. "He'll have to get serious about it at some point and stop conflating Kynect and the Medicaid expansion."

Obamacare Makes It Easy to Tell The Smart and Honest From the Stupid Liars in Eastern Kentucky

They may still hate that Ni**er in the White House, but they know their lives are better because of his socialist health care reform.

Laura Unger and Chris Kenning at the Courier:

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. – Obamacare flooded into these remote Appalachian hills last year like the War on Poverty had a half-century earlier — another government program promising to save some of America's most vulnerable citizens.

And since then, it has given many of the poor and sick a key to long-neglected health care. But it's also brought skepticism and fear, with some business owners arguing it's stunting growth in a region that can't afford another economic blow.

One year after USA Today and The Courier-Journal examined the Affordable Care Act's arrival in Floyd County, Ky., health reform has taken root in ways both surprising and expected, good and bad.

Amid predictions that bad health habits would be hard to break, scores of newly insured residents, mostly covered by Medicaid, have sought care in hospitals, mental health centers and drug treatment facilities. Providers have proved plentiful. Unreimbursed care costs are down. The county's under-65 uninsured rate is half what it was — dropping from 19 percent before the law to 10 percent at the end of last year.

Some who dismissed Obamacare because of its political associations with a president blamed for the decline of the coal industry say their opposition has softened.

Fast-food worker Melinda Watson last year echoed the law's unpopularity here — convinced it would kill jobs and create long waits for "horrible" socialized medicine. She only bought a subsidized insurance plan on the state exchange to avoid paying federal penalties. But she soon realized the benefits: going to the doctor regularly and undergoing MRIs for her epilepsy. And her employer didn't cut her hours, as she feared.

"I was really scared at first, with all the gossip," said the 41-year-old granddaughter of a coal miner, slicing tomatoes in the back of a sub shop. "But it's really helped. I've seen a lot of other people who got insurance actually using it, going to the doctor and getting their teeth fixed. Now I've got the opposite fear — that when (President Obama) goes out of office, they'll take it away."

Easy: He'll Just Lie. Because That Always Works

Political Animal:

Over 400,000 Kentuckians now have health care that Mitch McConnell thinks they shouldn’t have. How’s that gonna play?

They don't have health care thanks to Obamacare-loving liberalcommieni**erlovingmuslinterrist Alison Lundergan Grimes; they have kynect healthcare thanks to that Staunch Defender of White Privilege Mitch McConnell.

Done. Double-digit victory for the repugs. Again.

Kentucky Moving On Up

After 150 years in the have-not club of states with high poverty and low services, Kentucky is joining the club of have states: the ones with healthy people, good jobs and a bright future.

Because 20 percent of uninsured Kentuckians now have health insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

Mary Meehan at the Herald:

Enrollment for health insurance through Kynect has exceeded 116,000, and state officials are urging people to be patient if they've signed up for private insurance but haven't received their insurance cards.

Dec. 23 was the deadline to be part of the first wave of health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which takes effect Wednesday. In Kentucky, about 6,000 applications were processed in the 24 hours before the deadline, Gov. Steve Beshear said in a news release Monday. The holiday season has not slowed enrollment. About 5,630 people in Kentucky have signed up since last week.

With so many people signing up in a short time, according to Beshear's release, some might not receive their insurance cards by Jan. 1. "Don't worry," the release said. "Insurers are processing a high volume of new enrollments."

Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the state hadn't kept track of the percentage of people who had received their cards from private companies offering coverage through Kynect.

People who've signed up via Kynect should be in the private insurance companies' systems by Jan. 1, said Gwenda Bond, a spokesman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

But coverage does not take effect unless a premium payment has been made, so Kynect administrators are encouraging those enrolled in private insurance plans to pay their first premiums by Jan. 10.

There are no premiums for Medicaid, which is designed to help the poor. Bond said people who have signed up for Medicaid through Kynect should be covered beginning Wednesday.

Kentucky had about 640,000 uninsured people when enrollment began Oct. 1. So far, 84,480 people have enrolled in government-funded Medicaid and 31,672 have enrolled in private insurance, a total of 116,152.

Enrollment continues through March 31 for coverage in 2014. In Kentucky, those who apply during the next couple weeks can have coverage activated as soon as Feb. 1.

"The security of health care is not a privilege for a fortunate few, but a right for every one of us to enjoy."

You forgot to mention, Mr. President, that Kentucky's Affordable Care Act marketplace is still the best and most successful in the country, despite our handicap of both U.S. Senators doing everything they can to sabotage it.



Full transcript here.

How Red States Are Fucking Over the Poor on Obamacare, Or 320,000 Kentuckians Newly Eligible for Medicaid Are the Luckiest in the World

640,000 Kentuckians are uninsured.  Or were, before Tuesday. Of those, 320,000 are working poor people making too much money for regular Medicaid, but able to get Medicaid under the new Obamacare rules.

Because unlike almost every other red state in the nation, Kentucky's governor saw clearly through the repug bullshit just what Medicaid expansion would mean to Kentucky, and told his conservatard legislators, advisors and voters to fuck off and die because he was insuring every Kentuckian no matter whose idea it was.

Shame, shame, SHAME on the repug governors denying lifesaving and poverty-killing health insurance to their working poor.

Digby:

He may not have been able to completely block the plan but they made sure the people they like to call "welfare queens" (aka parasites) got theirs. And that's what's most important:

A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the eight million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured and ineligible for help. The federal government will pay for the expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent of costs in later years.

Those excluded will be stranded without insurance, stuck between people with slightly higher incomes who will qualify for federal subsidies on the new health exchanges that went live this week, and those who are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid in its current form, which has income ceilings as low as $11 a day in some states.

People shopping for insurance on the health exchanges are already discovering this bitter twist.

“How can somebody in poverty not be eligible for subsidies?” an unemployed health care worker in Virginia asked through tears. The woman, who identified herself only as Robin L. because she does not want potential employers to know she is down on her luck, thought she had run into a computer problem when she went online Tuesday and learned she would not qualify.

Feature, not bug.

I'm going to guess that the Republicans may think this is a good way to drive a wedge between the Democrats and this loyal voting bloc of poor people. But I doubt it will work unless they literally die. Which may actually be the plan. They love human sacrifice.

Like cutting food stamps and eliminating Headstart and defunding Meals on Wheels, denying affordable health insurance to the working poor should be a crime. A felony with a mandatory minimum of life without parole in solitary confinement.

Motherfuckers.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Ignoring One of Biggest Events in Kentucky's History

If she really wants to endear herself to Kentucky's Democratic voters - especially the ones who need some real inspiration to turn out on election day next year - Grimes will attach herself to Governor Steve Beshear's Obamacare Kynect victory tour and start singing Obamacare's praises.

Mary Meehan at the Herald:

Comparing congressmen who obstruct government funding because of the newly imposed Affordable Care Act to "9-year-olds in a food fight," Gov. Steve Beshear announced Wednesday that nearly 90,000 Kentuckians had explored health care options at the state's website, Kynect.ky.gov.

By noon Thursday, the site had nearly 2 million page views, 12,779 applications started and 3,505 individuals and families approved for affordable health insurance.

Beshear said many people were able to explore their health care options through the website, making it "one of the most exciting days I have had since I have been governor."

Beshear choked up a bit during his first public appearance since Kentucky's health care program went into effect. At a news conference Wednesday at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, there was a catch in Beshear's voice after he talked about how improved health care will make a real difference in the lives of the 640,000 Kentuckians currently uninsured.

"I am proud to be a part of it," he said.

Obamacare - for all that Kentucky officials refuse to use the name or credit the President - is on track to accomplish what decades of kow-towing to Big Coal and the obscenely wealthy have not: genuine improvement in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians, including thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in economic growth.

Beshear also slammed Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul for their anti-Obamacare obstruction.

Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday he was "disappointed" that Kentucky's U.S. senators "continue to weave their web of misinformation" about President Barack Obama's health care law instead of offering solutions.

Beshear, a Democrat, told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul are wrong to say Kentuckians don't want the Affordable Care Act, and he said they would pay a political price for opposing it.

"I would predict to you that a year from now all of these people are going to be turning around and looking at these critics and saying, 'Wait a minute. You were misleading us. Because this works, and I have health insurance I can afford,'" Beshear said.

The governor, in Washington to speak at a conference hosted by National Journal, castigated Washington's "dysfunctionality" before responding to an op-ed co-signed by Paul and McConnell and appearing in the Cincinnati Enquirer that assailed Beshear's support of the law.

"As far as I'm concerned, they can stay up here in Washington and continue their political grandstanding," Beshear said. "I'm going to be in Kentucky, making sure that our people have affordable health insurance."

SNIP

"People are really enthused and interested in this and very excited about it," the governor said.

d more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/03/2857697/steve-beshear-blasts-mitch-mcconnell.html#storylink=

Obamacare Wins

Executives of health insurance companies who denied affordable coverage to people with pre-existing conditions should rot in prison forever. That the motherfuckers can no longer do that to anyone is the single greatest thing about Obamacare.

Digby:

Update: An acquaintance of mine in another state who is working for the exchange tells me that people with pre-existing conditions were calling in droves today.

Of course they are. These poor people are desperate to get get some insurance and any society that would just let them hang out there in the wind is barbaric. If nothing else works in Obamacare, the fact that people who are already sick (or just have some kind of diagnosis) will be able to access affordable health care makes it a success.

What a relief it must be for these folks to be covered. I sure hope that not even one of them or any member of their family will ever vote for Republicans again. They literally wanted them to just ... well ... die.

*She also says that people are really shocked to find out that these plans are high quality because of the 10 essential benefits, especially the chronic disease management and no monetary caps. People who've been round the private insurance block know exactly what a godsend that is.

And from Think Progress, the repugs' biggest nightmare:

Butch Matthews is a 61-year-old former small business owner from Little Rock, Arkansas who used to wake up every morning at 4 A.M. to deliver canned beverages to retailers before retiring in 2010. A lifelong Republican, he was heavily skeptical of the Affordable Care Act when it first passed. “I did not think that Obamacare was going to be a good plan, I did not think that it was going to help me at all,” he told ThinkProgress over the phone.

But after doing a little research, Matthews eventually realized how much the law could help him. And on Tuesday, his local Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) provider confirmed that he would be able to buy a far better plan than his current policy while saving at least $13,000 per year through Arkansas’ Obamacare marketplace.

SNIP

So what would Matthews tell other Americans who are skeptical about Obamacare? “I would tell them to learn more about it before they start talking bad about it,” he noted. “Be more informed, get more information, take your time and study and not just go by just what you hear on one side or the other. Actually check the facts on it.”

“I still am a very strong Republican, but this… I’m so happy that this came along,” he continued. “Our home is paid for, vehicle’s paid for, this is our expense that we have. We have more expense on medical care than everything else put together, so this is going to be a great help for us.”

Kentucky Wins First Day of Obamacare

At this rate, every one of Kentucky's 640,000 uninsured will be signed up by the end of open enrollment in March.

As Joseph Gerth wrote in the Courier, affordable health care is going to be Governor Steve Beshear's legacy.

From the press release:

Midway through its first full day of operation, Kentucky’s health benefit exchange, kynect, has been swarmed by nearly 60,000 visitors seeking information about affordable health care.

“The response has been swift and enormous,” said Governor Steve Beshear. “The fact that nearly 60,000 unique visitors have clicked on kynect.ky.gov in its first day tells us that not only are Kentuckians ready for real, affordable health care, they don’t want to wait another minute to find it.”

Kynect was online and active at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time on October 1, 2013.  Between midnight and 8:30 a.m., 24,000 users visited kynect, and filed 1,015 applications for health care coverage.

The immediate crush of hits led to the discovery of a system glitch that prevented users from filing applications for several hours.  The rest of the site remained operational while the problem was repaired.  Full function was restored at 3 p.m.

Below statistics reflect activity on kynect as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time:

·         kynect had 57,625 unique visitors; viewing close to 600,000 web pages. 
·         The average visitor stayed on the site for 11 minutes.
·         The kynect contact center fielded 3,243 calls, and 110 e-mails.  Call center workers also conducted 103 online chats. 
·         52,095 people conducted pre-screenings to determine qualifications for subsidies, discounts or programs like Medicaid.
·         Nearly 2,000 applications have been started; 1,235 have been completed.

“While it’s very encouraging that so many people immediately visited kynect today to learn more about available health insurance, you don’t have to sign up today,” said Carrie Banahan, executive director of kynect.  “Open enrollment lasts for six months – there’s plenty of time to get information and determine the best plan for you and your family.”

Kentuckians in all 120 counties can visit kynect.ky.gov to comparison shop for health insurance products. Kynect is expected to help uninsured residents get coverage through private insurance plans or Medicaid, as well as the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP).

Four out of five Kentuckians who use kynect are expected to qualify for financial assistance to help cover a portion of their healthcare costs.

Kentuckians who sign up before Dec. 15 will start coverage on January 1.  Open enrollment is available through March 31, 2014.