Obamacare Working Great In Kentucky, A State That Hates Obama

Sen. Mitch McConnell

Kentucky hero

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Kentucky is trying to prove that Obamacare can work. "Some 34,000 had begun applications, and more than 11,000 had signed up for plans, making Kentucky one of the most successful state-run insurance marketplaces under the new federal health care law...In a state where dislike of President Obama runs strong and deep, Mr. Beshear, a Democrat, has positioned himself as a champion of the Affordable Care Act, out ahead of public opinion. It has endeared him to the White House at a time when news of the problem-plagued federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, has been embarrassing and damaging. "My message to Kentuckians is simply this," Mr. Beshear said in his office in the State Capitol. "You don't have to like the president; you don't have to like me. Because this isn't about him, and it's not about me. It's about you, your family and your children. So do yourself a favor. Find what you can get for yourself. You're going to like what you find." Kentucky is the only Southern state to operate its own insurance exchange as well as expand Medicaid coverage for the poor. It is an anomaly on the polarized political map, and a test of whether bitterness over the law will dissolve if people decide it effectively provides affordable health care." Trip Gabriel in The New York Times