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Beshear: More Than 10% of Kentuckians Insured Through kynect

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The Kentucky Governor office says that more than one in every 10 Kentuckians now have affordable health care thanks to the initial open enrollment period for kynect, Kentucky's state-based helath benefit exchange.

Governor Steve Beshear announced Tuesday that 413,410 Kentuckians enrolled in health care coverage through kynect in its first open enrollment period, which ended March 31. At its peak in the final three days of enrollment, kynect processed more than 7,000 applications each day. 

Another 30,000 individuals signed up for healthcare coverage during the April 4-11 kynect special enrollment period. More than 11,000 Kentuckians finalized health plan choices by the April 15 deadline, bringing the total of enrolled Kentuckians to over 413,000 - the approximate combined populations of Lexington, Owensboro and Bowling Green. 

“Every single individual who signed up for health insurance through kynect had a driving reason to go to that website or visit a kynector – perhaps they’d never had health insurance before and knew they needed it; they wanted insurance but couldn’t get it because of pre-existing conditions; or they had been priced out of the private options available to them,” said Gov. Beshear in a release.  “kynect tore down all those barriers for hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians.  It is deeply satisfying to know that nearly 10 percent of our population finally has affordable, quality health insurance that gives them the assurance that if they get sick or hurt, they’ll get the care they need and they’re not in danger of bankruptcy.”

Midway through its first full day of operation, nearly 60,000 individuals seeking information about affordable health care had visited the kynect website. By day 10 of open enrollment, nearly 10,000 Kentuckians had enrolled in healthcare coverage. In its first full month of operation, more than 32,000 people had enrolled in coverage through kynect, an average ofabout 1,000 Kentuckians a day.

The final days of enrollment saw a crush of people rushing to enroll.  About 21,000 signed up in the final three days.  Now, more than 1 out of every 10 Kentuckians has health insurance through kynect – or 9.6 percent of the state’s population. These figures do not include previously uninsured individuals who may have purchased health insurance outside of kynect. 

Fifty-two percent of all kynect enrollees are under the age of 35.  Of private health plan enrollees, 33 percent are under age 35.

Approximately 80 percent of enrollees qualified for coverage under the Medicaid expansion with the remaining 20 percent purchasing a private insurance plan. Of those who purchased private insurance plans, 72 percent qualified for some level of premium assistance.

The next open enrollment period begins Nov. 15, 2014 for coverage effective Jan. 1, 2015.  

Breakdown of kynect stats as of Monday, April 21: 

  • 413,410 Kentuckians enrolled in new health coverage
  • 330,615 qualified for Medicaid coverage
  • 15,427 individuals who qualify for traditional Medicaid have undergone a required annual recertification since April 1, which is now handled through kynect.
  • 82,795 have purchased private insurance
  • 52 percent of all kynect enrollees are under the age of 35
  • 1.5 million unique visitors viewed 57.7 million kynect web pages
  • 886,502 individuals conducted preliminary screenings
  • 22,147 have enrolled in standalone dental plans
  • 1,605 small businesses have started applications for employee coverage, of those 628 businesses have completed applications and are eligible to offer coverage to employees. 
  • 839, 398 calls handled by kynect contact center
Rob Canning is a native of Murray, KY, a 2015 TV Production grad of Murray State. At MSU, he served as team captain of the Murray State Rowing Club. Rob's goal is to become a screenwriter, film director or producer and looks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie for inspiration. He appreciates good music, mainly favoring British rock n' roll, and approves of anything with Jack White's name on it. When not studying, rowing or writing, Rob enjoys spending his free time with a book or guitar.
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