Open enrollment on the state’s insurance exchange Kynect is underway and hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians are choosing their health benefits plans. Karyn Czar has more on the possibility that it won’t be running once the new administration takes over in Frankfort.
For the third open enrollment period, eligible Kentuckians can find insurance with the click of a mouse. But just after last week’s win at the polls, Governor Elect Matt Bevin says he will dismantle Kynect. Audrey Haynes is the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and played a vital role in setting up the exchange which gained national praise.
"I hope that once they assess the situation, get the facts for themselves that he will reconsider because I'm not sure there will actually be any savings at the end of the day," said Cabinet Secretary of Health and Family Services Audrey Tayse Haynes. She said the expenses will include "new technology to continue to have the Medicaid eligibility platform and system working as well as to hook up to the federal hub (and) to decommission a very successful exchange," Haynes told WUKY.
Last year more than half a million Kentuckians used Kynect to get health care benefits.