McConnell says Ky. healthcare exchange can stay but not ObamaCare

[Captain Obvious]

wait.. what?

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/220633-mcconnell-says-ky-healthcare-exchange-can-stay-but-not


Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Monday he wouldn’t mind if the state healthcare insurance exchange known as Kentucky Kynect stayed but reiterated his call for the full repeal of ObamaCare.

Policy experts have questioned the feasibility of preserving the popular state exchange while also repealing the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which set it up and similar exchanges around the country.

“Kentucky Kynect is a website. It was paid for by a two-hundred-and-some-odd-million-dollar grant from the federal government. The website can continue but in my view the best interests of the country would be achieved by pulling out ObamaCare root and branch,” McConnell said in a debate with Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic candidate for Senate.

Kynect, the health insurance marketplace set up by ObamaCare in Kentucky, has emerged as one of the law’s success stories. About 10 percent of the state’s population has used it to obtain insurance coverage although critics note most of that has come about through an expansion of Medicaid.

[Cigar]

Brilliant ... do you think anyone in Kentucky noticed :dang:

[Ethereal]

The website was already paid for with a grant and its biggest accomplishment was getting more people to sign up for Medicaid. Not sure Obamacare was needed to accomplish that or to maintain the status quo going forward.

[Cigar]

The website was already paid for with a grant and its biggest accomplishment was getting more people to sign up for Medicaid. Not sure Obamacare was needed to accomplish that.

Yea ... because Kentucky was going to do that anyway :laugh:

[Captain Obvious]

The website was already paid for with a grant and its biggest accomplishment was getting more people to sign up for Medicaid. Not sure Obamacare was needed to accomplish that or to maintain the status quo going forward.

Medicaid is to a large extent federally funded through CMS, I suspect that there are overlaps with the ACA.

[Ethereal]

Yea ... because Kentucky was going to do that anyway :laugh:

The federal government could have done it without Obamacare or even a costly website. They could have just raised awareness about Medicaid eligibility using social media, local officials, and the president's gravitas.

[exotix]

Mitch McConnell wants Kentucky to believe it's Obamacare Exchange is just a Website


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/mitch-mcconnell-obamacare_n_5980362.html

http://migration.kentucky.gov/Newsroom/governor/20140401kynect.htm

When pressed on whether he would like to keep Kynect, McConnell continued to argue that Kentucky officials could continue the state exchange "if they'd like to."

"States can decide whether or to expand Medicaid or not," he said.
"It's a state decision."

When asked again if he personally was endorsing the continuation of the state exchange, McConnell responded, "Yeah, I think it’s fine to have a website."



More Than 370,000 Enrolled During kynect Open Enrollment Inside



http://i62.tinypic.com/2cxdmax.jpg

[Ethereal]

Medicaid is to a large extent federally funded through CMS, I suspect that there are overlaps with the ACA.

I'm sure there are, but did we need hundreds and hundreds of pages of legislation to make a decent website and expand Medicaid rolls?

[Captain Obvious]

I'm sure there are, but did we need hundreds and hundreds of pages of legislation to make a decent website and expand Medicaid rolls?

Agreed, but the ACA wasn't about expanding coverage and lowering costs, it was about expanding dependence and drumming up votes.

There still is a segment of Medicaid eligible people who just won't bother signing up because they know ER's will provide their primary care and other services for "free", although the expanded Medicaid programs have been fairly successful, at least from my standpoint. Medicaid pays roughly 25 cents on the dollar charged (maybe half of cost) and self-pay is around 7% ish.

And yeah, I agree - these Medicaid programs could have been funded and expanded without all the ACA drama. And other things too.

[Cigar]

The federal government could have done it without Obamacare or even a costly website. They could have just raised awareness about Medicaid eligibility using social media, local officials, and the president's gravitas.

How may Decades have we been talking about Health Care?

Obama did it ... then dropped the Mic

[Captain Obvious]

How may Decades have we been talking about Health Care?

Obama did it ... then dropped the Mic

Unfortunately you have no idea what it does.

[Ethereal]

How may Decades have we been talking about Health Care?

Obama did it ... then dropped the Mic

He "did it" in the most costly, divisive, and complicated fashion possible with almost nothing to show for it, you mean.