Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Kentucky Governor Urges Successor To Keep Obamacare Health Care Expansion
Louisville Courier-Journal: Beshear To Bevin: Keep Health Care Expansion
Seeking to defend his signature achievement, Gov. Steve Beshear on Friday made an impassioned appeal to Gov.-elect Matt Bevin not to dismantle Kentucky's expansion of health care under the Affordable Care Act. Armed with budget details, health statistics and economic forecasts, Beshear argued that the expansion under the law also known as Obamacare has been an economic windfall for Kentucky, bringing in nearly $3 billion in Medicaid money since 2014 and creating 12,000 jobs. (Yetter, 11/13)
Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: Kentucky Counties With Highest Medicaid Rates Backed Matt Bevin, Who Plans To Cut Medicaid
The 66 percent of Owsley County that gets health coverage through Medicaid now must reconcile itself with the 70 percent that voted for Republican Governor-elect Matt Bevin, who pledged to cut the state's Medicaid program and close the state-run Kynect health insurance exchange. Lisa Botner, 36, belongs to both camps. A Kynector — a state agent representing Kynect in the field — recently helped Botner sign up for a Wellcare Medicaid card for herself and her 7-year-old son. ... Yet two weeks earlier, despite his much-discussed plans to repeal Kynect and toughen eligibility requirements for Medicaid, she voted for Bevin. "I'm just a die-hard Republican," she said. ... At Transylvania University, political scientist Andrea Malji said she has crunched state data and found a "99 percent confidence level" between the counties' Medicaid enrollment levels and their gubernatorial choices. The larger the Medicaid numbers, the more likely they were to back Bevin, she said. (Cheves, 11/14)
