Jim DeCesare Responds To Lack Of Medicaid Legislative Agreement.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim DeCesare
Phone: (270) 792-5779
March 9, 2011

Representative Jim DeCesare Responds to lack of a Medicaid Shortfall Solution

Last night the Kentucky House of Representatives adjourned until March 21, 2011 without passing a fix to the Medicaid shortfall. The Free Conference Committee made up of House and Senate members could not reach an agreement. The Senate Republicans want to enact across the board cuts to state government, including education and the House Democrats and Governor favor taking money from the 2012 Medicaid budget and moving it to the 2011 Medicaid Budget. State Representative Jim DeCesare a Republican from Bowling Green said, “No one wants to cut education funding, but due to escalating liabilities in areas like pensions and Medicaid, Kentucky is fast approaching a crisis similar to what other states are already experiencing. Make no mistake, we will face greater cuts in the future if nothing is done and it is our Governor who refuses to lead”.

It was Governor Steve Beshear who refused to keep his promise to implement managed Medicaid programs to save this state $125 million. The Governor also vetoed many cost savings measures in the last budget that he himself proposed during the 2010 Special Session. Since the recession began in 2008, Governor Beshear has increased state government employment rolls by 1,180 and he’s gone to bat for the salaries of his non-merit employees in front of the Personnel Board. Under this Governor, there were 1,432 personal service contracts in Fiscal Year 2010 totaling $1.04 billion. In FY 2011, there are 1,847 personal service contracts totaling $1.71 billion. It was this Governor, through debt restructuring, who led our state down a path of interest-only payments, leaving the bill to balloon for future generations.

Now there is a $166 million shortfall in Medicaid, and the Governor wants to pull money from next year’s budget to pay today’s debts, pretending to pay for it with managed care programs that haven’t even been created. Because of Governor Beshear’s failure to lead, next year’s Medicaid shortfall is likely to be upwards of a billion dollars and even more difficult decisions will have to be made.

“I do not agree with the Governor’s plan and I believe the House and Senate Free Conference Committee should continue working on a compromise to the Medicaid funding shortfall exploring all options. I appreciate the work of the Free Conference Committee and hope they will remain committed to working together to seek positive and sustainable ways to balance our Medicaid budget”, said DeCesare.