Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin promised after taking office in January that he would not dismantle his state’s highly successful Medicaid expansion program, despite the Tea Party conservative’s many reservations. However, that hasn’t stopped him from pressing for dramatic changes that would toughen eligibility, reduce benefits, impose new fees and force tens of thousands of low-income adults off the rolls. On Wednesday Bevin unveiled a comprehensive waiver request he is submitting to the Department of Health and Human Services to alter the program – one that startled some health care advocates for the poor. (Pianin, 6/24)

Bevin's plan has stirred up a storm among health advocates opposed to changes that would have a profound impact on hundreds of thousands of the 1.3 million Kentuckians on Medicaid -- including the 440,000 people added since 2014 under the expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act. And they are gearing up to fight it during the extensive public comment period required before any action by the federal government, which pays for the majority of Kentucky's $10-billion-a-year Medicaid program and must approve the changes. "Harsh new barriers to coverage," is how Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy described Bevin's complex plan laid out in a 69-page document released Wednesday. (Yetter, 6/24)

As of Friday, the state had already hit 225,900, a feat that has been praised by people from across the country. ... Much of the [enrollment] effort has relied on existing infrastructure or help from outside entities. Louisiana became the first state in the country to link Medicaid enrollment to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, after having won the approval of the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. ... Louisiana also was able to auto-enroll people benefitting from an existing program in the state’s Take Charge Plus program that primarily provided reproductive health care services, including birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing; as well as the Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection, a post-Katrina system of health clinics. (Crisp, 6/26)