As part of an executive order Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, R, issued Friday to institute work requirements for Medicaid enrollees, Medicaid expansion would end if courts struck down the work requirements, according to The Hill.
The order imposes 80 hours per month of employment activities, including community service and job training, for healthy Medicaid enrollees between the ages of 19 and 64. It also dictates that the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services "take necessary steps to terminate Kentucky's Medicaid expansion" if courts challenge the requirements.
Kentucky's Medicaid enrollment increased over 100 percent during the state's expansion, and nearly 480,000 people would stand to lose coverage if the expansion is rolled back. As a result of increased Medicaid enrollment, the state's uninsured rate reduced from 20 percent in 2013 to 8 percent in 2016.
"Gov. Bevin has consistently said since submitting the [waiver] application that these are the terms under which Kentucky will maintain expanded Medicaid," Woody Maglinger, a spokesman for Mr. Bevin, told The Hill.