EKB News

Governor Steve Beshear said Wednesday that his focus during next year’s 30-day legislative session would be to balance the Medicaid budget, which is facing a $139 million shortfall, and to raise the high school dropout age from 16 to 18. Beshear says he doesn’t see the need to reopen the entire two-year state budget during the short, odd-year session that begins in earnest on February 1st. Beshear wants to contract with more health care providers to manage Medicaid services in various parts of the state. With legislative approval, savings from expanded managed care in the next fiscal year could be moved forward and applied to the current year’s shortfall. Beshear was criticized by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, who questions why Beshear didn’t support statewide managed care earlier in his term. Williams asked if the Beshear administration is admitting they could have saved us $450 million over three years if they had been something other than asleep at the wheel.