• Home

Bernd Meier

Home awards health insurance health reform insurance exchange Medicaid obamacare state government Carrie Banahan, director of Kynect, is named one of Governing magazine's nine Public Officials of the Year

Carrie Banahan, director of Kynect, is named one of Governing magazine's nine Public Officials of the Year

Written by Unknown on 7:29 AM ,
Carrie Banahan, executive director of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, has been selected by Governing magazine as one of nine 2014 Public Officials of the Year.

The magazine, for state and local government officials, has presented the awards since 1994 to recognize excellence in state and local government.

The magazine said it chose Banahan "for her tireless work overseeing the creation, development and promotion of Kynect," the brand for the insurance exchange created under the federal health-reform law. Her profile will be featured in the December issue of the publication.

“Lots of things had to go right before Kentucky became the nation’s gold standard for health-care implementation, and the first thing we did right was to name Carrie Banahan as kynect’s executive director,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a release from his office. “Carrie not only had the perfect mix of experience and technical know-how to direct Kynect, she had the passion for the job."

Over her more than three decades of public service, Banahan has served as deputy commissioner of the Department of Insurance, deputy commissioner of the Department for Medicaid Services and executive director of the Office of Health Policy in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

“Carrie was truly the perfect person for this job. It is as if her whole career has been training her for this very opportunity,” Cabinet Secretary Audrey Haynes said in the release. "She is certainly deserving of this prestigious honor.”

Kynect has enrolled more than 521,000 Kentuckians in health care coverage, with three out of every four enrollees reporting they did not have health insurance prior to signing up, says the release. The Gallup Organization found that the percentage of Kentuckians without health insurance fell from 20.4 percent in 2013 to 11.9 percent midway through 2014, second only to Arkansas, the other Southern state that expanded Medicaid.
Tweet
Newer Post Older Post

Popular Posts

  • Lexington is considering whether to add electronic cigarettes to its anti-smoking ordinance
    The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council will discuss whether to expand its smoking ban to include electronic cigarettes, possibly as earl...
  • As part of UK campus food deal, Aramark puts up $5 million for Food Connection, vows to purchase Kentucky products
    By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The University of Kentucky has entered a $5 million public-private partnership designed to promote ...
  • Heavy use of e-cigarettes may deliver big doses of formaldehyde, which can be a cause of lung cancer, study suggests
    Vapor produced by electronic cigarettes can contain a surprisingly high concentration of formaldehyde—a known carcinogen that can cause lun...
  • Ten common myths about diabetes busted
    Kentucky ranks 17th in diabetes, and many Kentuckians are newly diagnosed every year with the disease, usually Type 2 diabetes. The diagnosi...
  • Ky. ranks 8th in the number of high-prescribing Medicare physicians for powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants
    Kentucky ranks eighth in Medicare physicians who are considered "high prescribers" of Schedule 2 medications, drugs that have the ...
  • Newport school board's smoking ban, which includes e-cigarettes, would be 38th among 173 Kentucky school districts
    The Newport Independent Board of Education  passed the first reading of a proposed smoking ban Wednesday, Jan. 28 after adding electronic ci...
  • Millions of children on Medicaid are missing free check-ups; Kentucky is a little below the national average
    Millions of low-income children across the country aren't getting free preventive exams and screenings guaranteed by Medicaid, and some ...
  • Obamacare seems to be no plus for Kentucky Democrats, perhaps mainly because of the word's first three syllables
    Though the federal health-reform law has helped cover more than half a million Kentuckians and cut the state's uninsured population by h...
  • McConnell seeks 'timely and fair review' of plan for Medicare coverage of CT scans for those at high risk for lung cancer
    U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell asked Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to "give a timely and fair r...
  • Research suggests eating only during a nine- to 12-hour time period can help maintain healthy weight
    For a long time, scientists supposed that eating after midnight was unhealthy, but now a study has provided support for the notion. When sci...
Bernd Meier © . All Rights Reserved. Powered by Blogger