A new TV ad targeting Gov. Matt Bevin’s healthcare record has elicited ire from the incumbent, who has formally requested it be removed from air, citing inaccuracies.
The attack ad is sponsored by Bluegrass Values, the regional expenditure of the Democratic Governors Association, a national organization providing financial support to Democratic gubernatorial candidates around the country.
Following the release of the ad, the Bevin campaign contacted several TV stations to request it be pulled for its “factually inaccurate and defamatory” statements, according to a press release.
“A look at the facts shows that every claim made in this ad is false,” Davis Paine, Bevin’s campaign manager, said in an official statement.
Analysis of the ad
Several claims made in the ad lack context, but they are not baseless.
Taking away healthcare coverage from children
The ad features a ninth-generational Kentuckian from Versailles who suggests Bevin has tried “to take away healthcare coverage, including vision and dental from children.”
The claim refers to early implementation of Bevin’s plan to change Medicaid, which would require “able-bodied” adults covered by the Medicaid expansion to provide proof of time spent working, volunteering, training or undergoing drug treatment in order to receive benefits. For three weeks in July 2018, 460,000 Medicaid patients were unable to access dental, vision, or non-emergency medical transportation benefits as a result of the rollout.
The new system—reportedly through a glitch—also led to multiple children and pregnant women being denied vision and dental care, as reported by several independent news outlets.
After a public outcry, Bevin restored benefits to the 460,000 affected patients, as well as those unintentionally impacted by the system.
In a press release, the Bevin campaign cited a November letter from the Department of Health and Human Services stating that Medicaid expansion beneficiaries “will continue to receive covered vision services, dental services and over-the-counter medications in accordance with the state plan.”
Taking away coverage for pre-existing conditions
The ad also suggests that Bevin is suing to “take away protections… for pre-existing conditions.”
In June, Bevin and 14 other state officials appealed a lower court’s decision to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The original decision limited access to association health plans, which permit small businesses to purchase more expansive coverage by joining with other nearby businesses to act as a single, larger employer. Such health plans are intended to reduce the cost of providing care for small business owners.
Although the Department of Labor’s guidelines outline that association health plans cannot discriminate against or hike premiums for individuals with pre-existing conditions, workarounds exist. According to the American Medical Association, “there is a significant risk that AHPs could disproportionately impact individuals with pre-existing conditions” by charging “based on factors that are not explicitly defined in terms of health or medical conditions, but that closely track those forbidden factors.”
Association health plans are also permitted to vary premiums by age, gender, industry and geography, factors that can be used to predict or anticipate pre-existing conditions.
Responses from DGA and from the Bevin campaign
David Turner, communications director for the DGA, said recent statements targeting the ad prove that Bevin’s campaign has no “positive talking points about Bevin’s tenure.”
“It’s clear to anyone paying attention to Kentucky politics that Matt Bevin has been trying to take away healthcare coverage from Kentuckians for years,” Turner said. “The idea that he hasn’t been doing so is just completely ridiculous.”
Bevin’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Emily Laytham, a University of Kentucky journalism student, is covering the 2019 gubernatorial race for The State Journal. This story is cross-posted from the State Journal with permission.