Moving Ahead After Supreme Court Ruling on ACA

« Back

Jul 2nd, 2012

Moving Ahead After Supreme Court Ruling on ACA

Public News Service-KY


The Affordable Care Act crossed a major hurdle with Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, but here in Kentucky, as in the rest of the nation, the decision sets in motion a major "to do" list.

Jodi Mitchell, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, says there are two main projects moving forward. One is the state's health-insurance exchange.

"It will offer greater access to affordable coverage options for individuals. We also know that our work will be cut out for us in the area of Medicaid expansion."



Mitchell says expanding Medicaid will save the state money in terms of providing coverage to those who don't qualify for it currently, and who can't afford coverage of their own.

"They tend not to get care when they need it, until it's absolutely necessary, or they seek their care from the emergency room, which is an expensive treatment option."



Mitchell expects the ACA to remain a hot-button issue through the campaign season but emphasizes politics should be left out of the equation when health care is the topic.

"It's not a partisan issue. Everybody needs health care services and we need to make sure that individuals have the opportunity to be covered and in the insurance system, so that they are covered and getting the care and care coordination that they need."

Roughly 640,000 state residents or about 15 percent of the population are uninsured in Kentucky. The state had begun the process of creating an exchange, but Governor Steve Beshear was waiting on the high court's ruling before proceeding further.

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories.

« Back

Coalition Partners