Next year will likely bring uncertainty to rural areas when a Trump administration and a GOP-controlled Congress promise to consider Obamacare’s repeal, including a potential reduction in the associated Medicaid expansion in 31 states and the District of Columbia that has led to health coverage for an estimated 10 million people. For example, about 60 percent of Kentucky Clay County’s 21,000 residents are covered by Medicaid, up from about a third before the expansion. The counties uninsured rate for nonelderly adults has fallen from 29 percent to 10 percent. Still, the increase in insurance coverage hasn’t made Clay’s people healthier yet. Local health officials here say achieving that will take a decade or more. Instead, they cite progress in smaller steps: more cancer screenings, more visits to mental health professionals and more prescriptions getting filled.
In Depressed Rural Kentucky, Worries Mount Over Medicaid Cutbacks
