The Kentucky House voted Friday in favor of extensive changes to the state’s public assistance system. Those include moving to one electronic benefit transfer card for each beneficiary and requiring drug offending recipients to seek treatment to maintain benefits. Work or volunteering requirements are also in the bill.
Muhlenberg County Representative Melinda Gibbons Prunty voted for the plan, expressing support for the proposed health insurance program for people who currently face losing Medicaid benefits by earning too much money. “I vote for my single moms in my district that want to work that see other people not working. This is going to have that health insurance bridge in there to get them across the line there. I believe that if this had been in place years ago, members of my family, if the accountability that’s in this their lives would have been much better because they would have been held accountable,” said Prunty.
Bill proponents said the legislation takes a compassionate approach to tackling fraud while also emphasizing accountability. Bill Sponsor David Meade told fellow members, quote, “if we save one life from drug addiction or we make sure that one child does not go hungry because their parents are not trafficking this card, it’s well worth the cost that we’ve spent.”
Opponents of the bill argued the cost of the legislation, estimated at $20 million dollars of mostly Federal funds, far outweighs the current losses due to fraud. In the midst of an almost three hour floor debate, Louisville lawmaker Mary Lou Marzian said no citizens testified in favor of the public assistance overhaul, but 95 organizations expressed concern about the impact on poor Kentuckians. “I have a real issue about providers not being gone after for fraud, ambulance companies, Medicaid taxi services, providers ordering tests that aren’t needed because they own the x-ray equipment and they want to use it,” explained Marzian.
If given final approval in the legislature, Implementation would depend on the granting of federal waivers. The overhaul bill now heads to the Senate.?
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