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You are here: Home / Economics / Austerity Bombing / Bevin Makes His Move

Bevin Makes His Move

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As promised, newly elected Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin announced today that the plan is to scrap Medicaid expansion for 400,000 Kentuckians and to replace it with…something…in 2017.

Bevin, who campaigned on a pledge to reshape Medicaid and the expansion under the Affordable Care Act, said it will take time to change the program but he expects to succeed.

“We are going to transform the way Medicaid is delivered in Kentucky,” Bevin said.

Bevin has enlisted the help of Mark Birdwhistell, a former secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services under former Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Birdwhistell, vice president for health services at the University of Kentucky, said he’s ready for the challenge.

“The people of Kentucky need a Medicaid system that is affordable and sustainable,” he said.

Bevin and Birdwhistell said Kentucky will begin work on a waiver they will ask the federal government to approve to let Kentucky establish its own Medicaid plan, as Indiana and some other states have done.

They expect to introduce the plan in 2017.

Bevin Wednesday morning voiced support for a Medicaid waiver system similar to the one used by Indiana to hold down costs and said an effort during the coming six months will show “whether this will work or not.”

Bevin went on to blame former Gov. Steve Beshear for getting Kentucky into an “unsustainable” Medicaid expansion which he called a “lie”, and mentioned Indiana’s Healthy Insurance Plan program as the model, which of course leaves the question “If Indiana’s Medicaid expansion replacement plan is working so well, why is GOP Gov. Mike Pence so upset about it being evaluated?”

Richard Mayhew can probably answer way more about this than I can, but so far to me it looks like Bevin is trying to set up Steve Beshear (and of course President Obama) to blame when a “workable alternative” to the current expansion magically fails to materialize six months down the road.

 

Richard Mayhew here: I am even more cynical than Zandar but more optimistic.  Bevin looks like he is setting up a committee to set up a committee.  It is a bureaucratic dodge as every hospital executive in the state has talked to Bevin’s people by now and told them they need Medicaid expansion to balance their books.  What will happen is the alternative plan will be more punitive, more confusing and more expensive than a straight up expansion but it will still cover 400,000 or more people in the summer of 2017.  It just won’t be called Medicaid Expansion, it will be Bevin AwesomeCare with Health Savings Accounts and Personal Responsibility Initiative Points.

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    “It is our intention to make it work,” said Bevin, but prefaced that by saying he never gave a 100 percent guarantee that the waiver system would be approved.

    “There is no doubt in my mind that we will come up with a viable solution,” he said at the end of the news briefing.

    Ha! What a lying sack of shit. Still, I would trade Bevin for the ambulatory dildo Rick Scott in a heartbeat.

  3. 3.

    Schlemazel

    Thank Pasta! There are going to be 400,000 leaches freed from the government burden of slightly more affordable healthcare so that they may thrive in the free market and enjoy the death of free men.

  4. 4.

    kindness

    I’m confused. Is Bevin pulling out of Medicare expansion now and hoping to have a new plan offered up for next year (2017)?

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Bevin’s henchman: “The people of Kentucky need a Medicaid system that is affordable and sustainable.”

    The people of Kentucky:

    A recent poll shows a significant majority of Kentuckians favor keeping the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act that Bevin has pledged to scale back.

    The poll released in mid-December by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows 72 percent of Kentuckians favor keeping the Medicaid expansion under the federal law also known as Obamacare that has provided health coverage to about 425,000 residents.

  8. 8.

    Mike J

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The poll released in mid-December by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows 72 percent of Kentuckians favor keeping the Medicaid expansion

    They should have voted.

  9. 9.

    c u n d gulag

    Maybe he’ll have a “Bevin-Amazing-Care Lottery,” where all of the people who need health care can buy a ticket for $100, and have 10,000 of so lucky-ducky winners!

    The winners get a basic health care plan, with a high deductible.

    The losers can die, for all any of Bevin’s people and the GOP care.

    And the left-over profits from the lottery to go straight into the pockets of Bevin’s health care cronies.

    VOILA!
    A GOP HEALTH CARE PLAN!

  11. 11.

    Fake Irishman

    It will be interesting to see how far Bevin can push the status quo if he can at all. It looked like Arkansas was going to scale back its expansion, with a new GOP governor but has actually made changes to move it closer to a traditional-looking Medicaid expansion. Arizona’s new wing nut governor simply signed legislation that essentially calls the federal government lots of nasty names while quietly continuing the expansion started under his predecessor. Richard’s point about “setting up a committee to set up a committee” may point us toward an Arizona-style GOP face-saving result, which would be awesome. An Indiana-result would be less awesome, but tolerable considering what Bevin is.

  12. 12.

    Elie

    This next election is for all the marbles, everywhere…

    In answer to Kindness’s question upstring, the program will probably remain in place during this year while he and we await the election results which will tell us a whole lot about what is ahead not just in KY but everywhere…

  13. 13.

    Kylroy

    @c u n d gulag: As Richard points out, “Bevin’s health care cronies” are making it very clear that they need the money Medicaid expansion provides. Cutting deals with the powers that be isn’t pretty, but it means that the resulting program has advocates who keep it from being destroyed with a single bill.

  14. 14.

    Redshift

    @Betty Cracker:

    “It is our intention to make it work,” said Bevin, but prefaced that by saying he never gave a 100 percent guarantee that the waiver system would be approved.

    I’m betting they first submit a plan so punitive that it gets rejected, and then they’ll blame Obama for any problems with the final waiver plan, because their first plan totally would have worked if it had been accepted.

  15. 15.

    Schlemazel

    @tam1MI:
    Blevin may be counting on that, it gives him an excuse for having to keep the old system while whining his hands are tied.

    EDIT: @Redshift: two great minds, one thought.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    @Kylroy:

    In Maine the conventional wisdom was that LePage would expand Medicaid because of all the money at stake for the hospitals who contributed significantly to him. Even the Maine Heritage Foundation published a piece saying expansion meant hundreds of millions for our state. LePage and the Republican legislature actually decreased Medicaid participation and were fighting with DHHS about kicking even qualifying adults w/out kids off. Then there were the work or volunteer requirements placed on assistance even though people can’t afford the gas money to get to volunteer opportunities and there are no jobs in most places. It’s crazy but he can blame all of this on Obama and get away with it.

  17. 17.

    Chris

    @Mike J:

    This. I’m fucking exhausted with a country that insists on electing these fucknozzles and is then surprised at the results.

  20. 20.

    Brendan in Charlotte

    Hopefully Main-ahs (including both my parents) will be smart enough to make it a 2 horse race next time the Human Bowling Jacket is up for reelection.

  25. 25.

    sdhays

    @Mike J: Exactly. 72% of kentuckians couldn’t be bothered to vote in the last election. Why should bevin be concerned about their preferences?

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    @The Thin Black Duke: Sometimes I wonder how humanity managed to hang around long enough to evolve.

    We used to roam about in bands of about thirty people. This had the tremendous advantage of allowing us to make evaluations of other tribe members in direct and personal ways. It’s thought that “free riders” were recognized quickly and given the choice of shaping up or exile. Members who had contributed had no problem being cared for as they aged because everyone who did so had direct contact with those contributions.

    Since large-scale civilization (approximately 12,000 years ago) all these structures have been blown apart, and we haven’t evolved, either :)

    (I know you were mostly rhetorical, but I wanted to make the point we are still struggling with the same tools the 30-size tribe used.)

  29. 29.

    Cacti

    66% of Owsley County, Kentucky gets its health insurance from Medicaid.

    70% of Owsley County’s votes went for Bevin.

    My amount of sympathy for people who vote to slit their own throats? A solid 0%. My sympathies to those who weren’t willing participants in their own suffering.

  31. 31.

    Redshift

    @MomSense: Similar situation with the legislature here in Virginia. They refuse to expand Medicaid, making claims like “we can’t count on the Federal Government to continue to pay their share,” which is obvious nonsense because:

    a. the state budget depends on federal spending in lots of other ways, but they don’t worry about those going unpaid, and,
    b. they could write legislation that ends the program if the federal contribution ends.

    So the governor pretends that their objections are being made in good faith, and comes up with a way to do it that requires no financial contribution from the state (by instituting a tax on hospitals that they are publicly saying they’re willing to pay, since it would be better financially than where they are now.) And the wingnut legislature declares that “dead on arrival” because reasons.

    In fact, they have no principled objections to expansion, just kneejerk opposition to letting an elected governor fulfill a campaign promise (sound familiar?), and certainty that Obamacare is a disaster, because wingnut media tells them so and they don’t listen to anything else.

    Sigh. So we’re left with a long-term task of trying to take back the House of Delegates seat by seat, which we almost certainly won’t be able to manage by the next census because of extreme gerrymandering (in the House, at least), which means that, they’ll be able to renew the gerrymandering.

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    I operate on the assumption that we continue to evolve (as a species, of course, not as individuals) and would love to know what the next stage is going to be like.

  34. 34.

    catclub

    @WereBear:

    and we haven’t evolved, either

    But we have. We have become far less ( individually) violent. I think it was radiolabs section on selection
    of the less violent ( aggressive) and how fast it works.

  37. 37.

    randy khan

    @Redshift: Just win the gubernatorial election and tip a seat in the State Senate and we can at least have a fighting chance at a reasonable map.

  39. 39.

    Greg in PDX

    I was thinking of moving back to Louisville. But not any more. I just don’t have the strength to fight those people anymore. I’ll stay here in Oregon where the lawmakers are for the most part compassionate and the major cities have enough votes to basically make the rural Bible-thumper vote irrelevant.

  41. 41.

    Dork

    @Elie: If they take the Executive and maintain the Senate, Obamacare is toast. God only recoils at what their “replacement” plan would look like.

  42. 42.

    Elie

    @Cacti:

    There was a study done on this recently. Its NOT the same 70% who voted for Bevin who receive Medicaid. The people who voted for Bevin resent their fellow Kentukians for “being on the dole”. Our goal should be to activate the recipients of Medicaid expansion and to raise their awareness of their power — not just saying eff you to them. They are disempowered and the Democrats have been ineffective in raising their awareness, even though they would make a clear and strong constituency. Same thing in West Virginia! The issue here is not people voting against their self interests. Its people who benefit NOT voting at all…

  43. 43.

    dogwood

    I refuse to get angry about this stuff anymore. The Obamacare Medicaid expansion is there for the taking. The States that are refusing expansion have always opposed any sort of healthcare reform. I don’t wish illl on any of the people in states like Kentucky or Virginia who suffer because of these political decisions, but I don’t give them a pass when it comes to responsibility either. A big chunk of Louisiana residents are more likely to get healthcare because of the last election. But I’m pretty sure it’s likely that 4 years from now a Republican will win back the statehouse by promising to end the expansion. I doubt that the majority of people who will receive the Medicaid benefit voted last month. And they won’t vote 4 years from now either. I’m just glad they’ll get some help for the next 4 years. It’ll save lots of lives.

  44. 44.

    Elie

    @Greg in PDX:

    Well I sure can share your pessimism about KY, but we cannot stop the fight. Tired? Hell yes, but nothing good is won easily and we have to be about doing what is necessary — getting up, tired as we are and doing what needs to be done. ( I know, sounds so Pollyana). There is just no choice if we are to stand for anything.

  47. 47.

    dogwood

    @Elie:
    You are not a Pollyanna. You are absolutely right. We just keep plugging away. We celebrate when we make progress and then go right back to work. For me to be productive, persuasive or realistic, I have to put anger aside. It’s exhausting, debilitating and downright depressing.

  48. 48.

    Els

    Those of us who have someone in our household benefiting from the KY Medicaid expansion are hoping that the cry of the hospital lobbyists is loud and demanding. But I wouldn’t hold out much hope that folks in a position to use Medicaid have a lot of cycles left to worry about politics when living on part time jobs without benefits.

  49. 49.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    The poll released in mid-December by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows 72 percent of Kentuckians favor keeping the Medicaid expansion…

    So if 72% favor keeping the medicaid expansion, that means 28% don’t… and we have that figure – 27% – again…

    Once again, the crazification factor strikes…

  52. 52.

    dogwood

    @The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…:
    What you should never underestimate is the intensity of that 27%. 72% of voters might favor the Medicaid expansion, but that doesn’t mean it’s an important issue to them, or an issue that would actually get them to the polls. Same with gun laws. Most Americans believe in sensible gun safety laws, but that doesn’t mean they care about it all that much. If they did, a shitload of congressmen would lose their seats.

  53. 53.

    Elie

    A lot of people are just confused. We can be upset about that but saying “well screw you” is ultimately going to make it bad for all of us. Those of us who believe in progressivism and the collective power of citizens for doing good have it on us to live those principles. We have to believe and act on our beliefs to benefit those who cannot or will not and also ourselves. “They” want you to give up. Cynicism and defeatism just helps those who do not want good things for people. Paradoxically and perversely you end up helping their cause. Is it ok to be tired and pissed? Well yeah. But next day we get up and strap it on and go out into it. We are going to have to do that a lot over the next year and after that too.

  54. 54.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    @dogwood: Absolutely…

    What I find so startling is how often that figure – 27% – pops up in situations like this, over and over and over again…

    That 27% seems to be the tail wagging the dog at this point…

  55. 55.

    Elie

    @The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…:

    But good things happened in spite of them… we elected Obama twice and got us some healthcare plus other stuff. They are not all powerful if we don’t give them our power. We give them our power when we cede the field of battle to their shit. They can’t take over unless we vacate our claim to the direction we want this country to take.

    I aint going anywhere…

  56. 56.

    Patricia Kayden

    “it looks like Bevin is trying to set up Steve Beshear (and of course President Obama) to blame when a “workable alternative” to the current expansion magically fails to materialize six months down the road.”

    So what? I assume Kentuckians hate President Obama anyways. If Kentuckians lose healthcare insurance, they have themselves to blame. Shrugs.

  57. 57.

    tern

    @Mike J: The ones that have a clue what’s going on did. I know, because one of them is my son and he has several friends in the same boat. They all voted and they did NOT vote for Bevin. KYNECT was a big consideration for them. When they stop by to visit, I continually hear them talking about losing coverage now and they are worried.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    I have not one single, solitary, any resemblance of an ounce of sympathy for them.

    Nada.

    Not for the muthaphuckas who never had insurance before Kynect, and couldn’t be bothered to get their azzes up to vote….

    but, especially for the muthaphuckas who never had insurance before Kynect and voted for this asshole anyway…

    2017…..

    yeah, sure…whatever.

  60. 60.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    @Elie: Oh yeah…

    I would like to think that we, the sane, can keep control of the country away from the bed rock crazy (that 27%)… at times they do seem to end up on top a little too much of the time…

    We cannot afford to cede control to them… they’re just too f’n destructive…

    No matter how ugly or messy it gets, we can’t give in and let them have their way…

  62. 62.

    SteveKnNKY


    this is the story all my FB friends are posting and whining about. ‘they’ being the ones posting carson, trump, cruz or kasich support or “your a stupid librul, if…” i simply post “don’t worry. bevin will take care of it. just not in your favor.”

    he is now, like stupid ernie fletcher, figuring out ‘wait!, what?, there is no waste – fraud – and – abuse?!?’ and he cannot get the approval from the fed in the timely manner he needs to destroy KYNECT and Medicaid expansion before the benefits take hold even more.

    he can destroy peoples lives and future retirement plans when he trashes the kentucky pension system. the only thing standing in his way is speaker stumbo and stumbo wont be speaker for long.

  63. 63.

    Admiral_Komack

    “As promised, newly elected Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin announced today that the plan is to scrap Medicaid expansion for 400,000 Kentuckians and to replace it with…something…in 2017.”

    -I have NO pity for those who voted against their own interests.
    FUCK THEM.

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