In the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night, former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear gave a dire warning that Republicans will «rip» health care away from Amer<\/b>
In the Democratic response to President Donald Trump\u2019s address to Congress Tuesday night, former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear gave a dire warning that Republicans will \u201crip\u201d health care away from Americans.
Picked to champion the health care law during the GOP effort for repeal, Beshear said that Trump and congressional Republicans \u201cseem determined to rip affordable health insurance away from millions of Americans who most need it.\u201d The GOP plan to repeal Obamacare, Beshear said, \u201cwould charge families more for fewer benefits and put insurance companies back in control.\u201d
\u201cWho are these 22 million Americans, including 500,000 people here in Kentucky, who now have health care that didn\u2019t have it before? They aren\u2019t aliens from a distant planet,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re our friends and neighbors.\u201d
As governor of Kentucky during Obamacare\u2019s implementation, Beshear led the state in creating its own Obamacare exchange and expanded Medicaid. Kentucky\u2019s uninsured rate dropped from 20.4 percent in 2013 to 7.8 percent last year, according to a recent Gallup-Healthways survey .
But even Kentucky\u2019s experience with Obamacare hasn\u2019t been all positive. Current Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has fiercely criticized the health care law, and his opposition was noted by Trump in his address. Bevin won election in 2015 after repeatedly promising to repeal Obamacare.
While the uninsured rate in the state has sharply decreased, the private Obamacare market in Kentucky is struggling more than ever. Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and WellCare exited Kentucky\u2019s exchange market at the beginning of this year, leaving Kentuckians in almost half the state\u2019s counties with just one option for health coverage.
Humana, based in Louisville, will pull out of all Obamacare exchanges at the end of 2017, ceasing to offer coverage in the nine Kentucky counties where it\u2019s currently active.
The state created a health insurance co-op with Obamacare funding, the Kentucky Health Cooperative, but it was unable to stay afloat and shut down in 2016.
In his address Tuesday night, Trump preemptively countered Beshear\u2019s speech by citing Bevin\u2019s longstanding opposition to Obamacare.
\u201cGovernor Matt Bevin of Kentucky just said Obamacare is failing in his State \u2014 it is unsustainable and collapsing,\u201d Trump said. \u201cObamacare is collapsing \u2014 and we must act decisively to protect all Americans. Action is not a choice \u2013- it is a necessity.\u201d
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