Kentucky cuts vision, dental coverage

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration cut dental and vision coverage for as many as 460,000 Kentuckians after his Medicaid overhaul plan was rejected in federal court.

The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services called the cuts an “unfortunate consequence” of Friday’s ruling by a federal judge. Democrats and advocates for the poor condemned the Republican governor’s move as rash and possibly illegal. The cuts were announced over the weekend.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg’s rejection of Bevin’s plan to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program was also a setback for President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been encouraging states to impose work requirements and other changes on the joint state and federal health insurance program for poor and disabled people. Boasberg’s ruling blocks those requirements for now in Kentucky.

Bevin’s administration blamed the judge for the cuts, saying his ruling removed a “legal mechanism” to pay for dental and vision coverage for about 460,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. The proposed rules would have charged monthly premiums and required at least 80 hours of “community engagement” per month, which could include working, volunteering or going to school.

Adam Meier, Bevin’s secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, has said the state is facing a $300 million shortfall in Medicaid over the next two years and has “no choice but to make significant benefit reductions.”