NEW YORK TIMES: … But as the first year of coverage ends, potential obstacles to the law’s success are also coming into sharp relief here. Relatively few people have signed up for private health plans offered through the state’s new online marketplace, Kynect. People earning between 138 and 400 percent of the poverty level — between about $16,000 and $47,000 for a single person — can get subsidies to help with the cost…
Kentucky’s experience so far underscores some of the challenges the law faces nationally. Nearly 400,000 people here — 9 percent of the population — joined the Medicaid rolls after Gov. Steven L. Beshear, a Democrat, expanded the federal-state program for the poor over the objections of Republicans in the increasingly conservative state. Critics argue that this rapid growth in the Medicaid enrollment will prove too much of a burden on federal and, eventually, state budgets.
At the same time, supporters say the private insurance exchanges will need robust business, including young and healthy customers that help balance the cost of sicker ones, to thrive. And while the more modest private enrollment here is partly due to Kentucky’s relative poverty — more uninsured people here were eligible for Medicaid than for subsidized private coverage when the law took effect, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation — national polls have found that many people simply consider the exchange plans unaffordable, even with subsidies… (more)
