Health News
- State Won't Estimate Cost Of Greater-than-expected Medicaid Expansion For 'a Few Additional Months' ? After Nov. Election
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The Republican-controlled state Senate's budget committee chair wants to know how much Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear's expansion of the Medicaid program will cost, since enrollment in the federal-state program...
- Poll Finds That 79 Percent Of Kentuckians, Including 60 Percent Of Republicans, Support Beshear's Expansion Of Medicaid
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentuckians strongly support Gov. Steve Beshear's decision to make hundreds of thousands more of them eligible for Medicaid under the federal health-reform law, according to a statewide poll taken...
- Beshear Looks Likely To Announce That He Will Expand Medicaid
Gov. Steve Beshear appears likely to announce tomorrow that he will expand Kentucky's Medicaid program to people in households with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, under federal health-care reform. The notice of the governor's...
- Beshear Says He Will Decide In Four To Five Weeks, Or July 1 At The Latest, Whether Or Not To Expand Medicaid
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News This story has been updated. Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday that he will decide within the next four to five weeks, or maybe by July 1, whether to expand the Medicaid program under federal health-care reform. Beshear,...
- Who Is On Medicaid Already? Not All Poor Kentuckians, Foundation President Says On Op-ed Distributed To Kentucky Newspapers
By Susan Zepeda President and CEO, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision upholding much of the Affordable Care Act, states have many factors to weigh. Importantly, SCOTUS affirmed the right of states to opt...
Health News
About 290,000 more Kentuckians would be eligible for Medicaid if state expands program, Urban Institute study finds
About 289,000 more people in Kentucky would be able to get health insurance if the state opts to expand its Medicaid program up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, as authorized by federal health-care reform, a new report from the Urban Institute has found. Just how many more Kentuckians would be affected by the possible expansion had previously been uncertain, with varying estimates.
Of those eligible, 56,000 are parents and 232,000 are adults who don't have dependent children, the report found. Those who are between the ages of 35 and 54 have the most to gain in the state, with 78,000 newly eligible Kentuckians falling into that age bracket. The report, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says about 15 million more people nationwide could get health insurance under Medicaid expansion.
Gov. Steve Beshear has said he will expend the program if the state can afford it, and is studying how much it would cost. The federal government will pay all the costs for the new eligibles at the through 2016, but by 2020, states will be responsible for 10 percent of those costs. For current eligibles, the state pays and would continue to pay about 30 percent.
Though much of the discussion on expansion is based on whether states can afford it, "Exclusively monetary calculations ignore the potential human, financial and productivity benefits associated with improved access to affordable health care for the millions of low-income adults who lack health insurance coverage and their families," the study's authors conclude. (Read more)
Of those eligible, 56,000 are parents and 232,000 are adults who don't have dependent children, the report found. Those who are between the ages of 35 and 54 have the most to gain in the state, with 78,000 newly eligible Kentuckians falling into that age bracket. The report, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says about 15 million more people nationwide could get health insurance under Medicaid expansion.
Gov. Steve Beshear has said he will expend the program if the state can afford it, and is studying how much it would cost. The federal government will pay all the costs for the new eligibles at the through 2016, but by 2020, states will be responsible for 10 percent of those costs. For current eligibles, the state pays and would continue to pay about 30 percent.
Though much of the discussion on expansion is based on whether states can afford it, "Exclusively monetary calculations ignore the potential human, financial and productivity benefits associated with improved access to affordable health care for the millions of low-income adults who lack health insurance coverage and their families," the study's authors conclude. (Read more)
- State Won't Estimate Cost Of Greater-than-expected Medicaid Expansion For 'a Few Additional Months' ? After Nov. Election
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The Republican-controlled state Senate's budget committee chair wants to know how much Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear's expansion of the Medicaid program will cost, since enrollment in the federal-state program...
- Poll Finds That 79 Percent Of Kentuckians, Including 60 Percent Of Republicans, Support Beshear's Expansion Of Medicaid
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentuckians strongly support Gov. Steve Beshear's decision to make hundreds of thousands more of them eligible for Medicaid under the federal health-reform law, according to a statewide poll taken...
- Beshear Looks Likely To Announce That He Will Expand Medicaid
Gov. Steve Beshear appears likely to announce tomorrow that he will expand Kentucky's Medicaid program to people in households with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, under federal health-care reform. The notice of the governor's...
- Beshear Says He Will Decide In Four To Five Weeks, Or July 1 At The Latest, Whether Or Not To Expand Medicaid
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News This story has been updated. Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday that he will decide within the next four to five weeks, or maybe by July 1, whether to expand the Medicaid program under federal health-care reform. Beshear,...
- Who Is On Medicaid Already? Not All Poor Kentuckians, Foundation President Says On Op-ed Distributed To Kentucky Newspapers
By Susan Zepeda President and CEO, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision upholding much of the Affordable Care Act, states have many factors to weigh. Importantly, SCOTUS affirmed the right of states to opt...