Both Sides Remain Entrenched in Medicaid Budget Talks

Kentucky’s special legislative session on Medicaid is underway in Frankfort. But compromise is not in the air.Last week, the 30-day regular session adjourned without House and Senate agreement on balancing the state’s Medicaid budget. So, Governor Steve Beshear ordered lawmakers back for a special session. Majority Leader Rocky Adkins says the House still favors the governor’s Medicaid budget plan.“We believe that the governor, through his proposal that he’s laid on the table, should be given the chance to work to see if we can’t basically balance the Medicaid budget within Medicaid," he says.But President David Williams says the Senate still prefers across-the-board cuts to state agencies.“Nobody wants their budget cut. But I tell you what, the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky want us to balance this budget and they don’t want us to forestall this problem, or put it off until next year," he says.The lack of an agreement is not a good sign for taxpayers, who are footing the $64,000 a day bill for the special session.