The following statement is from Kentucky House Democratic Leader Rocky Adkins, House Democratic Caucus Chair Dennis Keene and House Democratic Whip Wilson Stone, and is in response to yesterday’s announcement that Kentucky’s revised Medicaid waiver has been approved by the Federal Government.
“Our caucus sees remarkably little difference between the most recently approved Medicaid waiver and the one tossed this summer by a federal judge, so we first question why this administration thinks traveling the same route will lead to a different outcome. We also find it odd that Governor Bevin sees nothing wrong in spending nearly $400 million in tax dollars to devise an unnecessary and complicated system whose only savings comes from removing health coverage from about 95,000 Kentuckians, nearly all of whom are already working in jobs that do not provide health insurance. We’re a state with a significant amount of health needs, and the billions of dollars we’ve received as a result of the Medicaid expansion have made a profound difference in our collective health and kept many of our hospitals afloat. Our goal as a caucus is to make sure those gains continue and that we don’t spend more just to get less.” – House Democratic Leadership