By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News
The administration of Gov. Matt Bevin says it will continue negotiations with federal officials about its requested waiver of some Medicaid rules despite the election of Republican Donald Trump, who pledged in his campaign to "repeal Obamacare" but now says he will keep parts of it.
“Until changes occur at the federal level, the Bevin administration will continue to work within the confines of federal law as written,” said Doug Hogan, spokesman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. “To that end, the Bevin administration will continue to negotiate in good faith with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."
It remains unclear what effect the election might have on HHS officials, who have often cited Kentucky as an Obamacare success story and might be motivated to preserve as much of it as possible. But the election may create a better negotiating position for the Republican governor, who has said he is ready to end his Democratic predecessor's expansion of Medicaid to about 440,000 people.
Bevin's waiver request asks for permission to require premiums to those with incomes below the poverty level and require work or training for able-bodied adults who aren't primary caregivers, both conditions that HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell has said she would not approve.
Trump will take office Jan. 20. Hogan said that when things change at the federal level, "We will respond accordingly."
Bevin has said that the state cannot afford to have 1.32 million people, nearly 30 percent of its population, on Medicaid. His proposal says it "is expected to save taxpayers $2.2 billion over the five-year waiver period," by reducing enrollment in the program, but only $331 million of that would be state tax money, because the federal government covers the bulk of Medicaid costs.
The federal government is paying the full cost of the expanded Medicaid population through this year. Next year the state will be responsible for 5 percent, rising in annual steps to the federal health-reform law's limit of 10 percent in 2020. The state pays about 30 percent of the cost of traditional Medicaid participants.
Kentucky Health News
The administration of Gov. Matt Bevin says it will continue negotiations with federal officials about its requested waiver of some Medicaid rules despite the election of Republican Donald Trump, who pledged in his campaign to "repeal Obamacare" but now says he will keep parts of it.
“Until changes occur at the federal level, the Bevin administration will continue to work within the confines of federal law as written,” said Doug Hogan, spokesman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. “To that end, the Bevin administration will continue to negotiate in good faith with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."
It remains unclear what effect the election might have on HHS officials, who have often cited Kentucky as an Obamacare success story and might be motivated to preserve as much of it as possible. But the election may create a better negotiating position for the Republican governor, who has said he is ready to end his Democratic predecessor's expansion of Medicaid to about 440,000 people.
Bevin's waiver request asks for permission to require premiums to those with incomes below the poverty level and require work or training for able-bodied adults who aren't primary caregivers, both conditions that HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell has said she would not approve.
Trump will take office Jan. 20. Hogan said that when things change at the federal level, "We will respond accordingly."
Bevin has said that the state cannot afford to have 1.32 million people, nearly 30 percent of its population, on Medicaid. His proposal says it "is expected to save taxpayers $2.2 billion over the five-year waiver period," by reducing enrollment in the program, but only $331 million of that would be state tax money, because the federal government covers the bulk of Medicaid costs.
The federal government is paying the full cost of the expanded Medicaid population through this year. Next year the state will be responsible for 5 percent, rising in annual steps to the federal health-reform law's limit of 10 percent in 2020. The state pays about 30 percent of the cost of traditional Medicaid participants.
from Kentucky Health News http://ift.tt/2es9nZl In wake of Trump's election, Bevin administration says it will keep negotiating with Obama officials about Medicaid waiver requestHealthy Care
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