If the federal government doesn’t approve a waiver to Bevin’s liking, the Republican governor has said he would repeal the state’s expanded Medicaid program, causing more than 400,000 people to lose their health insurance. HEALTH would also remove basic dental and vision care.
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Kentucky’s Republican governor, Matt Bevin, on Wednesday submitted his plan for overhauling the state’s Medicaid program under ObamaCare, setting up a potential showdown with the Obama administration.
“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 has been hailed as a success story for Medicaid expansion.
The plan would still require people to pay monthly premiums of up to $15, penalizing people who don’t pay by locking them out of their insurance for up to six months.
Some health care advocates were generally supportive of Bevin’s changes, but still criticized the plan for charging premiums and imposing penalties for not paying them.
In response to the topic that received the most comments by far: allergy testing and private duty nursing will continue to be covered services.
The implementation of changes to dental and vision benefits will be delayed by three months to allow members additional time to accrue funds in their My Rewards Account to be eligible. But the new plan eliminates premiums and copays for the “medically frail”. Enrollees could also earn those points through caretaking responsibilities, passing the GED and making sure children receive necessary immunizations, in addition to the previously announced steps.
The sliding scale of required premiums for coverage will be collected on a household basis instead of on an individual basis.
Health and Human Services spokeswoman Marjorie Connolly said the agency is prepared to negotiate “for as long as it takes to find a solution that maintains and builds on Kentucky’s historic progress, and avoids moving backwards”. He said the waiver – if approved – will permit the state to continue Medicaid coverage “in a fiscally responsible manner that ensures better health outcomes”. And it also temporarily allows Bevin to change state law by adding four new members to the board and forcing it to publicly disclose more of its policies and fees.
Bevin removed Elliott by executive order, and then abolished the entire board and re-created it as a board of directors.
Thielen, who announced his second go at retirement to the board at a meeting in May, also explained that the board approved a request for proposal (RFP) in June to find a search firm to look for a new executive director and that five firms are now being considered.
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Through the end of this calendar year, the federal government pays for all the costs of the expanded Medicaid program but beginning next year, the state must pay 5 percent of the cost and that will increase to 10 percent by 2021. “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”.
