After GOP Election Success, Advocates In Kentucky Fear For Future Of Medicaid Expansion
Nearly half a million state residents gained Medicaid coverage under the federal health law and their coverage is now in play, advocates say. Also, news outlets report on Medicaid developments in Kansas and Ohio.
Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal:
Trump Victory Worries Ky Medicaid Advocates
Tuesday's election, in which voters swept Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump into office, could threaten care for more than half a million Kentuckians who gained coverage under the law also known as Obamacare that Trump wants to repeal. Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican and outspoken critic of the law, renewed his attack the day after the election put the GOP — which already controls the state Senate — in charge of the Kentucky House for the first time since 1921. "Obamacare is a disaster. It has been from the time it was rammed down our throats by Democrats," Bevin said in a radio interview Wednesday on Campbellsville's WVLC. "We're rejecting it. It's going to be gone. And it's going to be a good day." (Yetter, 11/12)
Kansas Health Institute:
Kansas Medicaid Backlog Concerns Persist During Open Enrollment
Legislators and federal officials are questioning the size of a backlog of Kansas Medicaid applications and whether it will persist during the open enrollment period for 2017 Affordable Care Act insurance. The backlog began with a computer system switch in summer 2015, but last year’s open enrollment period caused it to balloon as the healthcare.gov website referred applicants to Medicaid. Leaders of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment told legislators the agency would be caught up on the applications by the time open enrollment started this year, on Nov. 1. (Marso, 11/14)
Kansas Health Institute:
Election Clouds Medicaid Expansion Forecast In Kansas
Medicaid expansion advocates in Kansas say they’ll move forward with legislation despite national election results that signal a repeal of Obamacare. But they are a lot less optimistic about their chances than they were before last week. “There is still significant support in Kansas for expanding KanCare both in the public and among legislators,” said David Jordan, director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, a nonprofit advocacy group formed to push for the expansion of KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. (McLean, 11/14)
Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio Medicaid Chief Resigns As Feds Eye Changes To Health Insurance Program
State Medicaid Chief John McCarthy, who oversaw Gov. John Kasich's overhaul and expansion of the health-insurance program covering nearly 3 million poor and disabled Ohioans, is resigning. The announcement comes less than a week after the victory of President-elect Donald Trump raised uncertainty about the future of the tax-funded Medicaid program, including the 2014 expansion of eligibility that added about 650,000 low-income adults on to the rolls in Ohio. (Candisky, 11/14)
Cleveland.com:
Ohio Medicaid Chief Resigns, Will Be Replaced By Former State Rep. Barbara Spears
The man Gov. John Kasich entrusted as the state's first ever director of Medicaid is stepping aside after six years. Medicaid Director John McCarthy is leaving sometime in December to "pursue opportunities in the private sector," Kasich's office said Monday. Former state Rep. Barbara Sears, a Sylvania Republican who previously worked on healthcare and Medicaid legislation, has been tapped to replace him. Sears resigned from the House earlier this year to join Kasich's Office of Health Transformation. (Borchardt, 11/14)
