FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Gov. Andy Beshear worries that Kentucky lawmakers are not budgeting enough money to properly cover the state's Medicaid program, while Republican budget leaders argue the state cannot keep pumping more taxpayer money into the program every year.
As lawmakers create a new budget for Kentucky, funding for Medicaid is causing some tension. Beshear says the General Assembly is shorting Medicaid by $2.7 billion over the next two years.
"We see across-the-board pay cuts to hospitals, physicians, clinics - it could be as large as 10% in 2026 and another 10% in 2027," Beshear said.
Beshear said that means doctors will leave the Medicaid program, hospitals will shut down services like maternity wards, and fewer Kentuckians will have access to the healthcare they need. He noted that 1.4 million Kentuckians depend on Medicaid for healthcare.
Budget leaders in the General Assembly say they understand the importance of Medicaid, but they believe the program has gotten too big for the state to afford.
"While Medicaid has a very noble purpose, to provide for the indigent and the infirmed and our foster children and things like that – its expansion has gone way too far," Sen. Chris McDaniel said.
McDaniel, the Republican Senate budget chairman, said even with the federal government covering 78% of Kentucky's Medicaid costs, Medicaid is a top growing expense for the state. He explained the cost has more than doubled in the last 10 years.
"The experts in this space have got to start bringing their costs under control because we can't just keep plowing literally billions of new taxpayer dollars every year," McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the legislature is taking a disciplined approach to not let spending get too out of control.
