Could newly elected anti-Obamcare governor in Kentucky follow the lead of Asa Hutchinson and Ark.

[LiberalArkie]

As Max noted last night, anti-Obamacare Tea Party favorite Matt Bevin won the governor's race in Kentucky. Bevin has made noises about dismantling Kynect, the state's popular program for Obamacare coverage expansion. That could include ending the state's Medicaid expansion, which would take health insurance away from more than 400,000 Kentuckians.

Back in February, Bevin told reporters that he would "absolutely" end Medicaid expansion. "No question about it," he said. "I would reverse that immediately."

But more recently he has hedged on the issue. Bevin now seems to be signalling interest in a strategy similar to what we have seen in Arkansas, where anti-Obamacare GOPs who swept into power kept the coverage expansion in place but are aiming to Republicanize the program by seeking federal waivers of Medicaid rules.

The stakes are high. Kentucky has seen its uninsured rate cut in more than half since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the second biggest drop in the nation, trailing only Arkansas. The two states have been outliers in the red-state South in choosing to go forward with Medicaid expansion. But Obamacare politics remain dicey in Dixie, to say the least. There was a legitimate concern after the 2014 election in Arkansas that more than 200,000 of the state's low-income residents could be booted off of their coverage; there is a legitimate concern after last night about the fate of more than 400,000 low-income residents of Kentucky. But the end of expansion in Kentucky is by no means a foregone conclusion; as we know here in Arkansas, hedging politicians making anti-Obamacare noise during the campaign may not actually be willing to kick hundreds of thousands of people off their health coverage once they're in office.

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http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/11/04/could-newly-elected-anti-obamcare-governor-in-kentucky-follow-the-lead-of-asa-hutchinson-and-arkansas