Although uncertainty abounds in the Bluegrass State following Governor Matt Bevin’s proposal to impose work requirements on Kentucky’s Medicaid recipients, expansion of the low-income health coverage program appears to have yielded tremendous returns.

According to a new study jointly issued by Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina, rural and small-town populations benefitted the most from Medicaid expansion.

Mostly-rural Kentucky, in particular, saw dramatic results. In 2008, its uninsured rate sat at 43 percent; that had dropped to just 13 percent by 2016, reported WCPO-TV’s Paola Suro.

“More than 1.4 million people receive Medicaid benefits in Kentucky, or about one-third of the state’s population,” Suro noted. “Still, thousands of Kentuckians remain in poverty.”

Read the full story here, on WCPO.com.