by , @d_yetter –

Gov. Matt Bevin criticized former Gov. Steve Beshear and downplayed his legacy. Joe Gerth, CJ

FRANKFORT, Ky. – In a largely symbolic action, the House voted Tuesday to preserve Kentucky’s health insurance exchange, kynect, and its expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

The votes, carried by the Democratic majority, came the same day as a new, national study found that states that have expanded Medicaid under the law also known as Obamacare are faring far better than states that have rejected the additional health coverage.

But House Bill 5, to keep kynect, and House Bill 6, to preserve the Medicaid expansion, likely will die in the Senate, controlled by Republicans – which House Speaker Greg Stumbo acknowledged even as he spoke in favor of HB 5.

“We know this bill’s not going to pass in the Senate,” he said.

But Stumbo said the vote was important to “send a message” about the importance of the health expansion to more than 500,000 Kentuckians, many of them low-income.

“It will have a huge impact on every citizen of this commonwealth,” Stumbo said.

Rep. Darryl Owens, a Louisville Democrat and the sponsor of both bills, said he is seeking to preserve them from changes proposed by Gov. Matt Bevin, who has said he wants to dismantle kynect and scale back the Medicaid expansion he has termed unsustainable.

Several Democrats spoke in favor of the bills, including Rep. Brent Yonts from Greenville.

“It’s helping people who haven’t been able to help themselves,” he said.

But Republicans spoke against it, including Minority Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown, noting lawmakers had never debated the extensive program created by executive order of former Gov. Steve Beshear. He defended Bevin’s proposed changes to the health plan.

“This governor is looking for ways to cut costs and save money and still maintain the program,” Hoover said.

HB 5 passed on a vote of 52-46 and HB 6, 54-44, largely on party lines.

The debate in Frankfort comes as a report released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that states that expanded Medicaid, including Kentucky, continue to see a rise in health jobs and significant savings in state spending.

“Evidence from states that have expanded Medicaid consistently shows that that expansion generates savings and revenue which can be used to finance other state spending priorities or offset much, if not all, of the state costs of expansion,” said the report, which updates findings of one year ago.

Kentucky achieved a net gain of $83 million in the previous fiscal year from increased revenue and savings in state funds it would have spent on health coverage, the report found.

“Medicaid expansion is also bringing hundreds of millions of federal dollars annually to states, which ripples through state economies, creates jobs and strengthens struggling and rural hospitals,” it said.

The findings come as Kentucky- one of 11 states studied by the report – is at a critical juncture in its Medicaid expansion.

Bevin, a Republican who took office in December, is seeking federal permission to scale back Kentucky’s plan, arguing the state can’t afford the expansion launched by his predecessor.

His office repeated that concern yesterday, saying in a statement the current plan is unsustainable.

“We must transform and create a plan that is financially sustainable for the benefit of all Kentuckians,” said Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto.

Bevin has said he would like to replace the Medicaid expansion with a plan that includes more cost-sharing, such as premiums and copays, for Medicaid services that are now mostly free. He plans to dismantle kynect and transition consumers to the federal healthcare.gov site to shop for insurance.

Health advocates argue that kynect, hailed as a national model, is simple, easy to use and has been tremendously effective in adding health coverage to uninsured Kentuckians.

They also argue for preserving Kentucky’s Medicaid plan they say brings enormous health benefits to the about 425,000 people added under the expansion that offers health coverage to anyone below 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

“I think this new study provides one more piece of evidence that expanded Medicaid coverage is working,” said Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of health advocates. “We’re seeing gains not only in the health of Kentuckians but in the economy.”

The Robert Wood Johnson study found that for now, it appears that states can afford the plan that covers those added to the program with 100-percent federal dollars for the first three years. The federal share gradually reduces to 90 percent by 2020 and beyond.

But for state who had been paying a greater share of state money for the “traditional” Medicaid members-including very poor pregnant women, children and the disabled-that means more federal money to offset state costs, the study found.

For example, Kentucky pays about 30 percent of the costs of about 875,000 Kentuckians in traditional Medicaid.

Kentucky and Arkansas, the report said, demonstrated  state budget savings and revenue gains sufficient to offset state costs attributable to expansion at least through 2021, the report said.

Among savings were state payments for behavioral health and substance abuse services now covered by Medicaid, it said. That means lower costs for states as well as increased services for individuals.

Further, states that expanded Medicaid saw a  much steeper decline in people with no health coverage than states that did not accept the Medicaid expansion, the report found.

“All states should expect to reduce state spending on programs for the uninsured as expansion increases the ranks of the insured in states,” the report said.

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at (502)582-4228 or at [email protected].