Senator Rand Paul’s health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act was supposed to begin January 1, but on Sunday he said he remains unsure if he and his family are covered. At least one member of the Paul family is, though, albeit erroneously. The Kentucky senator held up the Medicaid card his son received through the Kentucky exchange.


“We didn’t try to get him Medicaid, I’m trying to pay for his insurance,” Paul said, “but they automatically enrolled him in Medicaid. For a month they wouldn’t talk to him because they said they weren’t sure he existed. He had to go down to the welfare office, prove his existence, then next thing we know, we get a Medicaid card.” Extrapolating from his son’s experience, the senator argued that in Kentucky — whose state-run exchange, set up with the support of Democratic governor Steve Beshear, has been heralded as a success — many are being automatically, and erroneously, enrolled in Medicaid.

Paul went on to say that, despite repeated attempts, he has been unable to amend his online profile or confirm that his family is covered and he remains uncertain whether he is enrolled in the Kentucky exchange, the District of Columbia’s exchange, or both. “It’s a mess,” he concluded.