GOP views Kentucky election as victory over health care law

(AP) — The election of a conservative outsider as Kentucky governor has given Republicans a laboratory to show the rest of the country how they'd replace President Barack Obama's health care law.

Three years into a coverage expansion that has brought the share of uninsured Americans to historically low levels, Matt Bevin's lopsided victory underscores how politically divisive the law remains.

[...] experts say slamming the brakes in a state already deeply entrenched in the Affordable Care Act would cost lots of time and money, testing the new Republican administration's ability to rein in costs.

Experts credit that to a synergy between Kentucky's state-run insurance marketplace and the decision to embrace Medicaid expansion.

Combined with the existing Medicaid program, Kentucky taxpayers now pay for the health insurance of a quarter of the state's population.

Outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear initiated both the insurance exchange and the Medicaid expansion by executive action.

If Bevin and the Obama administration can thread a middle path, Holtz-Eakin said that might defuse some of the contentious politics around the health care law.

The federal government requires at least 12 months' notice from a state that's seeking to shut down its insurance exchange, said Judy Solomon of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, which supports the health care law.