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Bruce Shriner, Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Kentucky (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday extended Medicaid coverage for dental, vision and hearing care to hundreds of thousands of adults in Kentucky, a sweeping initiative that will help keep people at work. said it would remove some of the health-related barriers that prevent people from getting .
The expansion will cover about 900,000 adults enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, the Democratic governor said at a weekly news conference. They will be eligible for the extended benefits starting January 1, 2023 with no special enrollment period required.
Beshear linked wellness and employee participation when announcing the initiative.
“It’s really hard work if you can’t see. It’s really hard work if you can’t hear directions. It’s really hard work if you have big dental problems that are causing a lot of pain and other complications.” .”
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Medicaid is a federal and state cooperative health care program for the poor and disabled. The federal government will pay for the “large majority” of the expanded care, the governor said. The remaining costs can be absorbed by healthy state Medicaid budgets, he said.
“It’s not going to have a big impact on Kentucky’s budget,” the governor said. In other words, it’s easily affordable, which means we should definitely do it.
The Kentucky Health and Family Services Cabinet said in a follow-up statement Thursday that federal funding will cover 90% of the initiative’s $36 million annual cost. The state’s Medicaid Services department will cover his remaining 10%, the statement said.
The initiative applies to individuals with an annual income of less than $18,700 and to families of four with an annual income of less than $38,200, Beshear said. Without Medicaid, they couldn’t afford medical bills, he said. If you’re enrolled in Medicaid, people under 21 are already eligible for dental, vision, and hearing services.
Beshear commonly refers to healthcare as a “fundamental human right,” but emphasized the value of initiatives to bring more people into the workforce. Delays in workforce participation due to the COVID-19 pandemic have drawn complaints from business leaders and Republican politicians.
“The goal here is to get people to work and eventually get them off Medicaid,” the governor said.
“We look forward to learning more” about the governor’s initiative, Ashli Watts, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said later Thursday.
“We know that one of the reasons for Kentucky’s low labor force participation rate is declining health, a major concern for Kentucky job creators,” Watts said in a statement.
Bluegrass State posted a record low unemployment rate this year, staying below 3.9% since April. Kentucky also set records for business investment and job creation in 2021.
Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, called Medicaid’s initiative “an amazing step forward” on Thursday. Expanding dental, hearing and sight coverage will have a “positive impact” on the state’s workforce and the health of Kentuckians, he said.
“All the data shows that you are much more likely to stay healthy if you are working,” Chandler said. ”
On average, the United States loses about 100 million hours of work each year to emergency dental care, Beshear’s office said in a news release. Meanwhile, about 16% of Kentuckians have some degree of hearing loss, the release said, citing US Census data.
Beshear’s Medicaid initiative is an extension of the actions taken by his father, Steve Beshear, who championed the state’s Medicaid expansion when he was governor. When Steve Beshear expanded the program to healthy adults, more than 400,000 people were added to his Medicaid roster. For many Kentuckians, it was the first time they had health insurance.
Republican Matt Bevin, who succeeded Steve Beshear as governor, has the right to require healthy Medicaid recipients to keep their benefits by working, going to school, or volunteering. proposed abandonment. Bevin said the expansion of Medicaid was too expensive.
Job requirements were binding in court, but Andy Beshear withdrew plans for Bevin’s immunity in his first days as governor after defeating Bevin in the 2019 election. and we already have a crowded gubernatorial primary among Republicans.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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