Gov. Matt Bevin, R-Ky., has cut dental and vision benefits under Medicaid in response to a court ruling Friday that blocked his push to install work requirements.
Bevin cut benefits to nearly half a million Medicaid recipients starting on July 1, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
The move comes after a federal judge found the state’s work requirement program for able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries to be “arbitrary and capricious.” The ruling on Friday punted the work requirement program back to Health and Human Services for further review.
Kentucky is one of four states to get federal approval for work requirements, with the other states being New Hampshire, Indiana, and Arkansas. Several other states are pursuing federal approval for installing the work requirements, which call for able-bodied Medicaid recipients to complete at least 20 hours a week of work, job training, education, or community service.
Kentucky was one of the few red states to expand Medicaid under Obamacare under Bevin’s predecessor Democrat Steve Beshear.
Bevin had previously said that he would end the expansion entirely if the judge struck down the work requirement program.
The state’s Cabinet for Health & Family Services Secretary Adam Meier hinted at the benefit slash in a statement on Friday on the judge’s ruling.
“While we disagree with the Court’s ruling, which delays implementation of Kentucky HEALTH, we look forward to working with CMS to quickly resolve the single issue raised by the Court so that we can move forward with Kentucky HEALTH,” said Meier, referring to the name for federal waiver for the work rule program. “Without prompt implementation of Kentucky HEALTH, we will have no choice but to make significant benefit reductions.”
The state was forced to cut the benfits because it was available through the same program set up for the work rules: Kentucky HEALTH.
“Members have already received notice that effective July 1, they would be placed into an Alternative Benefit Plan in which optional dental and vision benefits would only be available through Kentucky HEALTH’s “My Rewards Account” program,” said spokesman Doug Hogan. “When Kentucky HEALTH was struck down by the court, the “My Rewards Account” program was invalidated, meaning there is no longer a legal mechanism in place to pay for dental and vision coverage for about 460,000 beneficiaries who have been placed in the Alternative Benefit Plan. As such, they no longer have access to dental and vision coverage as a result of the court’s ruling.
The state made it clear that the benefits were dependent on implementation of Kentucky HEALTH, Hogan said.
