skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Health Insurance and Taxes in Kentucky

play audio
Play

Tuesday, April 14, 2015   

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Unlike some states, Kentucky has embraced the Affordable Care Act, along with expanding Medicaid and aggressively pushing the state-based health insurance exchange Kynect. The commonwealth has also opened a special enrollment period through April 30.

In a message to Kentuckians without insurance, Governor Steve Beshear says it will give them another chance to avoid possible tax penalties.

"Some Kentuckians may not have realized that not obtaining health coverage could mean significant tax penalties," says Beshear.

Residents who don't have health care coverage in 2015 will pay the higher of two amounts: two percent of household income, or $325 per adult. According to Beshear, the percentage of uninsured Kentuckians dropped from 20.4 percent in 2013 to 9.8 percent last year, moving Kentucky up from 40th to 11th in the nation.

Rob Jones, executive director of the poverty fighting network Community Action Kentucky, says the "biggest surprise" is that demand for the state-based health exchange has not fallen off in the second year.

"When you consider you have people in the low-income community that move in and out of various income brackets across the year," says Jones, "the demand does not seem to be dwindling."

Community Action Kentucky is among the agencies that supplies trained helpers, known as "kynectors," who facilitate enrollment in the state-based health exchange. Jones says the agency has enrolled roughly 34,000 people this fiscal year.

According to Jones, low-income Kentuckians who do not qualify for Medicaid should realize they can still get a subsidy to help cover the cost of their health insurance premium.

"This is what makes plans affordable for lower-income people," he says, "that might otherwise have found insurance to be out of reach financially."

For more information, log on to kynect.ky.gov or call 1-855-4-KYNECT, or 1-855-459-6328.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021