The more than 400,000 people who received health insurance from Kentucky’s expanded Medicaid program will likely not have to pay monthly premiums under Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s reforms, but they could have reduced benefits, the state’s Medicaid commissioner said Friday.
Kentucky Medicaid Commissioner Stephen Miller, appointed by Bevin in February, told The Associated Press the Bevin administration does not plan to include monthly premiums as part of its application to the federal government to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program.
Bevin has previously said he supports the idea of Medicaid recipients having “skin in the game” by paying monthly premiums for their coverage.
But Miller said negotiations with officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, indicate they will not approve a plan that requires Kentucky’s expanded Medicaid population to pay for a portion of their health insurance.
“That, today, is not part of the plan,” Miller said. “That is something that’s going to be a tough sell.”
The governor’s office indicated Friday that Miller’s comments were preliminary.
“Everything is on the table and
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