Kentucky Republicans view Tuesday's election results as a mandate to dismantle one of the country's most heralded health care programs in the name of fiscal responsibility.
Outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear used an executive order to expand the eligibility requirements of Kentucky's Medicaid program, insuring an additional 400,000 people and reducing the state's uninsured rate from 20 percent in 2013 to 9 percent by the middle of this year.
But those 400,000 people were more than twice what state officials had originally projected. Combined with the existing Medicaid program, Kentucky taxpayers now pay for the health insurance of a quarter of the state's population. The state will begin paying for the expansion in 2017, and costs could surpass $300 million by 2020.
Bevin's lopsided victory underscores how politically divisive the law remains.
