Medicaid numbers on the rise

According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, as of December, roughly 40% of the residents of Hopkins County are currently enrolled in Medicaid, with a little over on third of those being children. Both numbers are on the rise.

Statewide, about one-third of all Kentuckians rely on Medicaid, yet the majority of the population knows little to nothing about the service.

Medicaid is a federal-state program originally created by law in 1965 to provide medical care for the very poor, the disabled and the pregnant. Those numbers have been expanding since 2014, when passage of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, expanded the eligibility to include a much larger group of Americans.

According to the Kentucky Health Network, the federal government pays 90% of the cost for people covered by the expansion, and about 72% of others' costs. The state pays the rest, which means Kentucky taxpayers put billions of dollars a year into the program.

As of December, some 18,061 Hopkins County of the county's 44,686 residents were enrolled in Medicaid, with 6,748 of those being children. That is an increase of 1,208 since December of 2021, and an increase of 3,507 since 2018.

For local residents, the most used Medicaid program is WellCare, with 4,915 Hopkins Countians enrolled. That is followed by Aetna, with 3,933. Other programs being utilized include Anthem (2,560), Humana (2,057), Passport by Molina (1,746), FFS (1,674) and United (1,176).

For the Fiscal Year 2022, which ended June 30, the top medical diagnoses for Hopkins County residents utilizing Medicaid were contact/exposure to COVID-19, hypertension, a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 and anxiety.

The top medications being used by that same group included Buprenorphine-naloxone, Gabapentin, Omeprazole, Lisinopril and Proair hfa.