Latest news with #KentuckyHouseofRepresentatives
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Let's separate Medicaid myth from fact
A pro-Medicaid message lights up the Capitol grounds, May 7, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo byfor Caring Across Generations) During my 14 years in the Kentucky House of Representatives, I was deeply involved in overseeing Kentucky's Medical Assistance Program better known as Medicaid. I co-chaired a committee that made an in-depth study of Medicaid that resulted in legislation that I sponsored to address waste, fraud and abuse. Recently, Medicaid and its recipients have been misrepresented, resulting in divisive and misleading rhetoric. It is crucial that we examine the facts carefully and address the misinformation stemming from recent news reporting and pending legislative actions. Medicaid funds do not go directly to recipients. Medicaid services prepay for medical care, such as doctor visits, procedures and medications to aid low-income families, children, parents, caregivers, pregnant women, seniors and people with disabilities. The proposal in Congress to cut Medicaid by $625 billion over 10 years, leaving an estimated 7.6 million people without health insurance by 2034, along with the impending work requirements, suggests a lack of sensitivity or understanding regarding the nature of this program and the demographics of Medicaid recipients in Kentucky and nationwide. Let's begin with a quick overview: Medicaid, established in 1965, is a public insurance program that provides health coverage to low-income families and individuals, including children, parents, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities. It is funded jointly by the federal government and the states. Funds allocated for Medicaid do not go directly to recipients but are used to pay health care providers on a fee-for-service basis or through prepayment arrangements for medical care. This includes doctor visits, medical procedures, medications and more. In Kentucky, the federal government pays about 70% and the state 30% of traditional Medicaid reimbursements while the match is 90% federal-10% state for expanded Medicaid, allowing Kentucky to provide 'significant health care services' at a good value. Now let's look at the myth surrounding work requirements for Medicaid care. As the chair of the 1993 Program Review and Investigations Committee and principal sponsor of House Bill 127, an act relating to waste, fraud and abuse, I have consistently kept up with the Kentucky Medicaid Program over the years. It appears a long-standing misconception has produced an effort to create a solution for a problem that does not exist. Full-time and part-time workers must rely on Medicaid and SNAP, a nutrition assistance program, because they do not earn a living wage to support their families. Maybe addressing this issue would help find a solution to the real, underlying problem we are currently facing. Between 2015 and 2017, over 60% of Kentucky Medicaid recipients consistently held full-time or part-time employment. According to 2023 data from the Kaiser Foundation, Kentucky currently ranks 10th in the nation for the number of 'working Medicaid recipients.' There are 56.4% with full-time employment and 14.6% with part-time employment. Subsequently, 70.7% of Medicaid recipients are currently working, while 29.3% are not employed. The non-working group comprises elderly individuals, people with disabilities, children and caregivers who together account for approximately 19.8%. These individuals do not meet any of the work requirements currently being proposed. Consequently, the legislative proposals being considered would only affect 9.5% of the remaining Medicaid population here in Kentucky — undoubtedly, a solution for a problem that does not exist. Work requirements put up barriers to Medicaid coverage. Changes to work and reporting requirements and eligibility criteria have been shown to cause confusion among Medicaid enrollees, leading to substantial coverage loss, even for those who are eligible. A 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation report revealed that nearly 70% of people who had been dropped from Medicaid lost coverage due to procedural reasons. This is just the latest evidence of the harmful impact on peoples' access to health care caused by recent changes in Medicaid policy. During the time studied, Kentucky disenrolled 71,000 enrollees for missed paperwork and other procedural reasons. Of these, 74% (52,540) lost coverage attributed to barriers created by the beginnings of a state Medicaid work requirement that a court blocked from taking full effect, while 26% were found ineligible. As a result, 52,540 individuals lost access to health care services. Clearly, any barriers affecting Kentucky's Medicaid recipients warrant reevaluation. Our diligent Medicaid recipients merit equitable treatment and consideration. However, Houston, we do have a problem: Kentucky reported that in 2022, half of working Medicaid enrollees (50%) were employed by companies with over 100 employees and 42.8% worked in the agriculture/service sector. These full-time and part-time workers must rely on Medicaid and SNAP, a nutrition assistance program, because they do not earn a living wage to support their families. Maybe addressing this issue would help find a solution to the real, underlying problem we are currently facing. The Congressional Budget Office's analysis shows that this 'one big, beautiful bill' will reduce expansion reimbursements, add additional cost to Medicaid recipients, add work requirements, increase coverage barriers, cut Medicaid spending by $625 billion over 10 years, and leave at least 7.6 million more people without health insurance by 2034. True leadership involves building bridges, not barriers. Jack L. Coleman, a Democrat from Harrodsburg, represented Kentucky's 55th House District from 1991 to 2005. As co-chair of the legislature's Program Review and Investigations Committee, he helped lead a study of Medicaid that included findings and recommendations concerning financial accountability, recovery and drug utilization. In 1996, he sponsored House Bill 127, an act related to Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse, based on the results of the study. The bill served as a companion to Senate Bill 37, sponsored by then-Sen. Susan Johns, co-chair of the program review committee. Coleman is the father of Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Parents of children who threaten Kentucky schools would be fined if House bill passes
FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — A bill aimed at holding parents accountable for student-led terroristic threats against schools is advancing through the Kentucky legislature. House Bill 621 would fine parents of students who made threats against a school in the Commonwealth even if there was no intent to follow through with them. FBI responds after multiple threats to Kentucky schools The bill would effectively be used to compensate local law enforcement agencies for the costs of responding to school threats. In addition to the fine, the bill reportedly requires mental health services for the student involved in making the threat. Gov. Beshear provides update on response to deadly Kentucky flooding: 'Incredible to see' Ruling against former Rowan County clerk upheld nearly a decade after denying marriage license to same-sex couple Kentucky leaders gather to remember 5-year anniversary of COVID-19's onset in the Commonwealth HB 621 was passed in a committee vote on Wednesday and will be voted on next in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislation further limiting state labor protections passes House
The Kentucky House of Representatives, Jan. 9. 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer) FRANKFORT — The GOP-controlled Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill largely on party lines Wednesday further limiting state labor protections to a less-stringent federal standard, a move touted by proponents as business-friendly but lambasted by unions as an 'attack' on workers. The Kentucky legislature in 2021 passed a law that prevented state labor officials from implementing any new regulations more stringent than the federal standard established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. House Bill 398, primarily sponsored by Rep. Walker Thomas, R-Hopkinsville, would go further to prevent the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet from implementing any existing state regulations that exceed federal standards. On the House floor, Thomas said the legislation was about aligning Kentucky with federal workplace safety standards as the state's economy grows, arguing employers in Kentucky should be able to have consistent standards across multiple states. 'It's important for businesses to not have to go from state to state, and have to address different regulations,' Walker said. 'If a company has three different factories in multiple states, it would be nice if all three of them would all line up.' Kate Shanks, a senior vice president of public affairs for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, sat next to Walker when the bill passed the House Economic Development and Workforce Development Committee earlier this month. She described the bill's provisions then as a 'broad-based business issue.' The House approved HB 398 by a vote of 62-33, with 14 Republicans joining the minority of Democrats in opposing the legislation. Democrats who opposed the bill echoed the concerns of labor unions. Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Dustin Reinstedler previously told lawmakers the bill was a 'direct attack on the protections that have been hard won by generations of workers in Kentucky.' In a Feb. 19 letter addressed to Walker, Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet Secretary Jamie Link wrote that by not allowing Kentucky to enforce state-specific workplace safety standards, the state's workers would lose guidance and protections in situations including dealing with 'high-voltage electrical lines, bulk hazardous liquid unloading, and employee exposures to hazardous materials protections.' Among the provisions in HB 398, it could limit who can request a workplace-safety inspection on behalf of an employee. Currently, the definition of who can request such an inspection is broad and could potentially include an employee's family, attorney or another representative. HB 398 would limit who could request an inspection to those who are 'reasonably necessary to conduct an inspection based on their relevant scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education.' The state could also be required under the bill to pay court costs and attorney's fees if a workplace safety ruling by the state was overturned in an appeal in state court. HB 398 also puts tighter deadlines in place for filing complaints of alleged workplace safety violations and the time the state has to potentially issue a citation against an employer. Jason Bailey, the executive director for the progressive think tank Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, wrote that the 'severe limitations' the bill places on the state-managed workplace safety program in Kentucky would also endanger the state's ability to manage its own program. Kentucky House Minority Caucus Chair Al Gentry, D-Louisville, told the House from the floor that he lost his dominant right arm as a geologist due to a workplace accident in the 1990s when he was 28 years old. He said the emotional fallout from that accident was why bills such as HB 398 mattered a lot to him. 'House Bill 398 isn't a policy that helps others as much as it could lead to others being harmed,' Gentry said. 'We need to be focused on policies that help Kentuckians, especially our workers, not policies that could jeopardize their health and safety, even if it cuts cost.' Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, one of a few Republicans in the legislature who received an endorsement by the state AFL-CIO, had a floor amendment to change the bill fail by a razor-thin margin of 47-48. The amendment would have removed the limits on who can request a workplace inspection on behalf of an employee and nixed the requirement that the state pay court costs and attorney's fees if a workplace safety ruling is overturned in state court. Blanton told lawmakers that the state needed to provide a safe working environment and 'the opportunity for people, when there is a violation, to be able to report that violation of safety issues.' He ultimately voted against the bill. House Majority Whip Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, who voted for the bill, said he liked some aspects of Blanton's amendment but that removing provisions, including the ability for a business to collect attorney's fees and court costs if a business successfully takes the state to court, went too far. Nemes said there'd be opportunities to improve the bill in the Kentucky Senate. Other Republicans who supported the legislation pushed back on notions by Democrats that the bill's supporters only wanted to cut costs for industry or had never worked a blue collar job. Rep. Jim Gooch, R-Providence, said on the House floor he did dangerous work as an underground coal miner in the 1970s that gave him perspective on the safety challenges faced by workers. He said industries in the state deserve to have government regulators who understand how their respective industries operate and are willing to collaborate with industry 'to provide a safer workplace by doing things that are reasonable and that are doable.' 'I'm gonna vote in favor, and certainly my vote is not because I want to immediately reduce cost on some business out there, (it) certainly is not because I want to lower safety regulations for our workers because I have been those workers before,' Gooch said.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
McLean County continues to be impacted by flooding
Thanks to January and February's rain and snow, McLean County continues to face issues with flooding across the entire county. County Judge-Executive Curtis Dame issued a local State of Emergency on Saturday in order to allow the county government to help with the flooding relief efforts. According to the 'Declaration of a local State of Emergency' from the office of the judge-executive, the State of Emergency was issued because current 'conditions endanger the public's health and welfare,' the current 'situation creates a considerable hardship for the citizens of McLean County' and the 'government has the responsibility to protect the public health, safety and welfare and to mitigate the effects of such events.' The 'Declaration of a local State of Emergency' allows the county to offer assistance to citizens in need. The document also states that 'all agencies of McLean County shall cooperate to the fullest extent and shall provide such assistance as may be required for response to the emergency.' The 'Declaration of a local State of Emergency' also allows the county judge-executive to wave procedures other required by law that pertain to 'performance of public work, entering into contracts, incurring obligations, employment of permanent and temporary workers, utilization of volunteer workers, rental of equipment and appropriation and expenditure of public funds.' Because of the issued State of Emergency, the McLean County Public School (MCPS) system has been forced to close classrooms to students. Officials have been participating in Nontraditional Instruction (NTI) while students are unable to attend classes on location, but, according to MCPS superintendent Tommy Burrough, Monday was the county's last official NTI day. 'The state only allows 10 NTI days each school year for weather-related and illness-related school closures,' Burrough said. 'We've been out of the classroom since last Tuesday and alternating between traditional closing days and NTI. We had already utilized some days earlier in the year for snow and sickness. Once the NTI days run out, the county will have to add additional make-up days to the end of the calendar. 'The last I heard, we were set to get out on Friday, May 23, but we're anticipating having several other closures this week, so we'll put out an updated final day of school once we are back in the classroom,' he said. Last week, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed House Bill 241, which will expand the options for public school districts that have lost time in the classroom due to weather and illness-related closures. The bill was introduced by Rep. Timmy Truett, a McKee Republican, that would allow the state Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher to grant up to five 'disaster relief student attendance days' to be utilized when schools could provide instruction, even if the students are unable to attend in-person. The bill would also allow Fletcher to waive up to five days required by the state of Kentucky for students to attend school if those days would keep the students in the classroom later than June 4. Students are typically required by the state to attend school for 170 days and a minimum of 1,062 instructional hours. The House approved the bill with a vote of 82-7 on Friday morning. According to Fletcher, as of Friday's vote, 64 of the state's 171 public school districts had already used their 10 allocated NTI days and another 40 school systems, McLean County included, only had one NTI day left. Burrough said that McLean County will apply for those additional days if the option is available for the district. 'Obviously the best option is to have students physically in the classroom,' Burrough said. 'But at least if we are able to do NTI, the teachers and principals are able to see the kids so that they can keep an eye out on the welfare of the students, which is one of those advantages of having kids actually in the classroom.' Dame said that the county's designation as a 'Storm Ready' community has allowed emergency management teams to be better prepared to deal with the flooding issues. 'Getting certified as 'Storm Ready' last year has allowed us to have an efficient plan in place to provide better communication between agencies and a better allocation of community resources,' he said. So far, the county hasn't faced any main road closures, besides a lane closure on Highway 431 outside of Island. Matt Hughes, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) public information officer, said last week that the closure was due to a landslide that washed away dirt from under the roadway which, in turn, caused one of the roadway's lanes to sink about eight inches. Hughes estimated that the closure will extend into March because the repairs can't be made until the weather warms up. 'As Island residents, we're pretty well used to this,' said McLean County Magistrate Robert Bishop. 'Granted, the flood waters can pose dangers for our community members, but most of us have been through this before and, if they haven't personally, they know someone who has been, so they know how to prepare. Plus, we're such a small community that helps take care of each other. We will persevere.' Dame said that county officials have used the flood insurance rate mapping from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in order to determine which locations around the county would be most affected by flooding. 'About 60% of McLean County is zone for flooding, so having a proper plan in place is critical for success in times like these,' he said. Dame said, that with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Daviess County Emergency Management Agency, the county has been able to distribute more than 250 sandbags to residents to assist with the relief efforts. The Green River at Calhoun crested at around 32 feet over the weekend, which was earlier than initially anticipated by experts. The Green River flooding in Calhoun has left areas like downtown Calhoun and Rumsey underwater. 'We're not too bad off with the river at 32 feet,' Dame said. 'But if we reach in the 34 feet ballpark, that's when we'll have to make alternative plans, especially in the area of emergency services.' Dame said that those alternate plans would potentially include parking ambulances on higher ground in the Southern area of the county because 'standard emergency routes will be inaccessible.' He also said that a few county residents have been displaced from their homes because of the flooding, but with help from the Kentucky Red Cross, those individuals have been relocated to safe areas. McLean County Sheriff Ken Frizzell said that so far all of the emergency systems are functioning as normal, and that they haven't had to help with significant evacuations or water rescue events. 'We've all been here before,' he said. 'So, we all know what to do. Luckily, it seems like the water is starting to go down. Hopefully, the most vulnerable areas of the county will be out of the woods soon.' Additional information and resources regarding the flooding across the state can be obtained by calling 211 or by texting 898211. Dame encouraged county residents to follow the McLean County, Kentucky Judge-Executive page on Facebook for flooding updates and other resources and information available to the community. 'We're lucky that we're in a time where social media exists, so it's been easier to keep residents informed about what's happening during the State of Emergency,' Dame said. The McLean County Senior Services department has also suspended congregate meals and meal delivery services for seniors while the county is under a State of Emergency. The organization said that services will resume when it is safe to do so, and encouraged any senior needing assistance during this time to contact McLean County Senior Services at 270-273-5412.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Baby Miya's Law' passes Kentucky House committee
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) — The murder of 8-month-old Miya Rudd in Ohio County last year has inspired a bill to protect Kentucky children in abusive situations. That bill passed committee, and soon the Kentucky House of Representatives will vote on Baby Miya's Law. State Representative Scott Lewis (R-Ohio County) is from the area where Baby Miya's body was found. He's sponsoring the bill to keep the alleged abuse from ever happening again. When asked the purpose of the bill, State Representative Lewis says, 'There's guardrails put in place, so that it's harder for the parents to leave with a baby and not know where they're going or the condition of the baby or the drug use or so forth.' Among those guardrails, the law would require anyone to alert authorities and allow the state to intervene when a child is born to parents who already have a neglect or abuse case. 'If this passes and becomes the Baby Miya Bill, hopefully her legacy lives on in that way, and every time that maybe this helps prevent this happening again. She lives on that much more,' State Representative Lewis says. In June 2024, Kentucky State Police discovered the body of Baby Miya in a duffel bag at her Reynolds Station home. The child's parents — Tesla Tucker and Cage Rudd — her grandfather — Rickie Smith — and Brodie Payne are all charged with her murder. We're told there were three older siblings that were removed from the parent's custody prior to Miya's death. Police say Miya tested positive from methamphetamine at birth. 'Ever since I heard about it, I've been sick to my stomach, wondering the things that I could do to try to make it better,' State Representative Lewis says. 'I think this gives us more guidelines and a better chance of stopping these situations.' State Representative Lewis hopes a vote on the House floor to happen as soon as next week. After the House votes, the Kentucky Senate will vote for approval. 'Baby Miya's Law' passes Kentucky House committee Ford Center and Victory Theatre annual report shows gains, losses Baby born in back of an ambulance in Ohio County 800-piece stained glass work installed in Dawson Springs church Construction begins on 90-acre veterans retreat center in Warrick County Eyewitness News. Everywhere you are. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
