170 new KY COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths. Beshear to reopen KYnect health exchange.

Jun. 17--Gov. Andy Beshear announced 170 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Wednesday, bringing the state's total to at least 12,995 cases as hundreds of people stood waiting outside the Capitol, having never received their unemployment insurance as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"No one in state government is going to be happy until every Kentuckian has received the benefits for which they qualify," Beshear said during his Wednesday coronavirus update.

Hundreds of people, many experiencing wait times of at least eight hours, some driving hours to simply stand in line, waited in front of the state Capitol on Tuesday and Wednesday to try and get their unemployment claims processed in person. Beshear said by the end of Wednesday, at least 1,100 of those people will have gotten their claims processed.

More in-person services to process Kentuckians' still pending unemployment claims will be offered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, at 275 East Main Street in Frankfort. People with outstanding claims from March will have their own priority line.

Of Wednesday's new number of cases, Beshear said, "Kentuckians are doing a good job, but we've got to remember what we see around says [the virus] can come back very, very quickly."

Six more people with the virus have died, Beshear said, bringing the statewide death toll to at least 518.

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At least 329,710 tests have been administered across the state -- an increase of more than 5,200 tests since Tuesday.

At least 416 people are currently hospitalized with the virus, 61 are in intensive care and 3,444 have recovered from the virus.

The governor has repeatedly said the virus had laid bare systemic inequalities, including Kentuckian's access to health care.

That's in part why Beshear has submitted a declaration of intent to the federal government to reinstate the state-based health care exchange known as KYnect, he announced on Wednesday. The health care exchange was rolled out initially by his father and Democratic predecessor Gov. Steve Beshear in 2013 before it was dismantled by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in 2017. In the four years that KYnect was in effect, Kentucky's uninsured population dropped from more than 14 percent to just over 5 percent.

"I'm committed to getting every Kentuckian signed up for health care," the governor said. "This is just a start of how we're going to provide that."

Beshear said a state-based exchange will significantly reduce the cost of premiums and restore local control over the health care system -- "I believe we can do this much better than the federal government."

The state-based exchange will begin Jan. 1, 2022. After he took office in December, one of Beshear's first major moves as governor was to rescind Bevin's proposed controversial changes to expanded Medicaid, known as the Kentucky HEALTH plan, which sought to impose strict work requirements for able-bodied, working-age adults. It was projected to end health coverage for close to 95,000 Kentuckians.

"As we come out of COVID-19, we want to be better," Beshear said. "We want to build a better economy, [and] we want to provide better health care."

This story will be updated.

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