Subject: When Rhetoric Meets Reality: Matt Bevin Offers a Lesson for Republican Presidential Candidates
From: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
To: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2016 22:34:37 +0000

<http://factivists.democrats.org/when-rhetoric-meets-reality-matt-bevin-offers-a-lesson-for-republican-presidential-candidates/>

Tonight, newly elected Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin will deliver his State-of-the-Commonwealth address. Presumably he’ll discuss how he plans to deliver on his campaign promise to dismantle Kentucky’s successful healthcare exchange (Kynect) and roll back the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act in his state.

Under Democratic Governor Steve Beshear, Kentucky has been a national leader in implementing the Affordable Care Act, allowing more than 500,000 Kentuckians to become covered. But Bevin plans to dismantle the state exchange despite its widely acknowledged success and popularity, and instead force Kentuckians who would rely on Kynect to enroll through the federal exchange. Interesting choice for a politician who rails against the federal government.

Kynect has allowed 81,000 Kentuckians to purchase private health insurance, and also facilitated Medicaid coverage for 425,000 Kentuckians<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/affordable-care-act-kentucky-insurance-exchange.html?_r=0> (10% of the state’s population). Dismantling the highly regarded state exchange will cost Kentucky taxpayers an estimated $23 million and force premiums to rise. Kentucky taxpayers may also be on the hook to repay $57 million of the $290 million in federal funds awarded that the exchange has yet to spend. Not exactly a fiscally conservative decision.

But Bevin has backed off<http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-governor-blinks-medicaid-fight> his campaign promise to reverse Medicaid expansion for those already covered. Presumably he’s learned that once people have health insurance, they don’t want to lose it. 72% of Kentuckians oppose<http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article52259315.html> changing the Medicaid program. By softening his position on reversing the Medicaid expansion, he’s joining a long list of Republican governors who rail against Obamacare at campaign stops but run into the ACA’s popularity when it’s time to govern.

“Too bad the Republican presidential candidates haven’t learned the lesson that Matt Bevin and Republican governors have learned across the country: 19 million Americans have healthcare because of the Affordable Care Act, and they don’t want to go back to a system where millions weren’t covered because of prohibitive costs or pre-existing conditions.” – TJ Helmstetter, DNC spokesperson

View this post on our Factivists site here<http://factivists.democrats.org/when-rhetoric-meets-reality-matt-bevin-offers-a-lesson-for-republican-presidential-candidates/>.

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