Lest there be any doubt about why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is
trying to pretend that you can repeal Obamacare without repealing Kynect, the state's popular implementation of Obamacare, check out
these new numbers from brainwap, aka Charles Gaba.
In short, they show that as of April 15, Kentucky had already achieved a 48-percent reduction in its uninsured rate, thanks to Obamacare and Kynect. But those April 15 numbers are not final, even though they haven't been updated since. Gaba looks at numbers from Minnesota and Colorado that are more recently updated, and concludes that based on those numbers, Kentucky has by now probably cut the uninsured rate by 53 percent.
But whether you stick with the older 48 percent number, the 53 percent extrapolation, or something in between, this much is clear: Kentucky's uninsured rate fell by half and is continuing to fall, and it's because of Kynect, which wouldn't exist without Obamacare.
Obviously, Obama is a dirty word to a lot of Republicans in Kentucky, but Kynect isn't, even though it wouldn't exist without Obamacare. And that's because Kynect is the entity that's delivering on the promise of Obamacare.
Mitch McConnell wants Kentucky to believe they can keep Kynect while dumping Obamacare. That's a truly absurd position—it's like saying Kentucky could keep Fort Campbell while repealing the U.S. Army—but it's exactly what you'd expect from a duplicitous politician speaking from both sides of his mouth. It should be major liability for him, not just because it makes him look like a complete hack, but also because it's a reminder that as long as he supports repealing the Affordable Care Act, he also supports doubling Kentucky's uninsured rate.