- Federal aid leaves Kentucky Medicaid short, provides extra for schools, By Tom Loftus, September 9, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Congress’ recent effort to help the states financially will provide $135 million in unanticipated aid to Kentucky schools – but still leaves a $470 million hole in the Medicaid budget. In making that announcement at a news conference Thursday, Gov. Steve Beshear blamed the Medicaid shortfall on the General Assembly. He said legislators ‘assumed we would get millions more and balanced their budget on that assumption. … I called it ‘a hope and a prayer’ when they came up with it. It leaves us in a real crunch.’ For their part, legislative leaders accused the administration of stonewalling committees that were seeking ways to contain Medicaid’s burgeoning cost. The amounts for Medicaid and the schools are roughly the same as the projections made at the time Congress passed the Education, Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act in August. The shortfall in Medicaid, a $5.2 billion program that provides health care for 800,000 poor and disabled Kentuckians, results from an inaccurate estimate of anticipated federal assistance in the 2010-12 budget approved by the General Assembly in May…”
- Beshear: State faces $470 million shortfall in Medicaid budget, By Jack Brammer, September 10, 2010, Lexington Herald-Leader: “A looming $470 million shortfall in the state Medicaid budget could have ‘a catastrophic impact’ on Kentuckians, Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday as he announced the state will not get as much federal funding for the program as expected. Beshear had better news in reporting that Kentucky will receive nearly $135 million in federal money to support teachers, but that money can’t be used to help the cash-strapped Medicaid program that provides health insurance for the needy. Beshear said at a Capitol news conference that the state budget approved this year by the General Assembly assumed the federal government would provide an additional $238 million for Medicaid. Congress did provide additional money to help the states last month, but Kentucky will receive $137 million – only about 58 percent of what was expected, he said.That leaves a $111 million hole, Beshear said. Since funding for Medicaid is matched by the federal government on a roughly 4-to-1 basis, the gap represents a $470 million total program shortfall, the Democratic governor said. About 800,000 poor and disabled Kentuckians depend on the $6 billion program for health insurance…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty