Ky. ranks low in benefits for the poor; health secretary says he reminds legislators of the impact programs have on communities

Health Secretary Eric Friedlander

Update, Dec. 4: This story has been updated with additional information from state Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander's office. One number has been corrected.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

In a national webinar on safety-net programs, state Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said he would mention the state's low ranking in assistance to needy families in his discussions with legislators who will soon write the state budget. 

The webinar was held Nov. 28 by the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank that does in-depth, nonpartisan research to improve policy and governance at local, national and global levels.

The webinar opened with an introduction to Brookings' new tool, State Safety Net Interactive, showing the evolution of safety-net benefits over 21 years for a hypothetical sample of non-disabled, non-immigrant, single-mother families if they had full access to major safety-net programs, based on each state's rules.

Screenshot of Brookings Institution interactive map

The interactive tool shows that in 2022, Kentucky ranked 49th in cash and food assistance for this theoretical family, providing $4,810 in assistance. That was lower than any state but Arkansas and Mississippi. Adjusted for the cost of living in each state, Kentucky ranked 44th.

Friedlander told the webinar audience that he looked forward to using this interactive tool in his policy discussions with the state's lawmakers: "I appreciate getting the additional data and support from the tool that Brookings is rolling out today and I think it will be helpful in my discussions with the General Assembly."

Friedlander said it's important to recognize that Kentucky has a "blue governor" and a "very red General Assembly" and that there are often differing narratives when it comes to safety-net benefits and policy.  

He said that when it comes to safety-net programs, his cabinet tries to recognize that whatever happens to an individual in any community impacts everyone in the community, and he tries to convey this to policymakers. One example he used is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps.

"I've taken an approach with the General Assembly, which is, if it weren't for SNAP, we wouldn't have the amount of grocers that we have across the state. If it wasn't for Medicaid, we wouldn't have a health-care system at all. If it wasn't for child-care support, we wouldn't have child care," he said. "So I also take it from an angle of the economic support to communities . . . but what happens to communities when we're able to provide support for these individuals in their communities."

Kentucky increases benefits to the most needy families

Friedlander said his cabinet recently increased Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal program that provides cash assistance to families with children and very low incomes.

In a follow-up email, Friedlnader spokeswoman Susan Dunlap said Kentucky's TANF program is called the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program and stressed that the interactive Brookings tool does not yet reflect the changes made to Kentucky's program. 

"The funding level changed earlier this year, and adjustments do not yet show up in the interactive tool, which reflects data through 2022," Dunlap said in an email. "The tool, soon, should reflect the change in income eligibility level."

Dunlap said the benefit and income eligibility levels for this program had not changed since at least 1995, when the one and two-person household income categories were last increased, and the last increase for larger households was even earlier. 

She offered this example: "Accounting for inflation having risen 92 percent between 1995 and 2022, the maximum benefit level for a household of three would have been $503 had it just kept up with inflation. The current benefit reflected in the interactive tool is $262 for a household of that size. The recent increase in funding doubles the benefit level to $524 for a household of three – just above the inflation-adjusted equivalent for 1995."

Dunlap added that the income eligibility limit has been frozen for the past 27 years. "Had it kept up with inflation, it would have been $1,870 per month last year," she wrote. "The current limit for a household of this size reflected in the interactive tool is just $974 per month." 

Friedlander said Kentucky had not changed TANF in 20 27 years and that the recent changes increased payments and reduced some administrative barriers. When legislators asked why, the cabinet showed them the economic impact of SNAP, TANF and Medicaid for each county, beyond the numbers for individuals.

"And it actually made an impact," Friedlander said, adding later, "There are these dependence narratives that are out there, and I don't believe that they're backed up by evidence. But we have to be able to show the evidence that this is not the case within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services." 

He said it is possible to work across partisan lines "as long as we are being honest and evidence-based about what's happening." He added that such talks generally take place "off-stage" and require "relationship building." 

Friedlander pointed to the state's efforts to use the Kynect website to reduce the administrative burden of safety-net programs. "We have an integrated eligibility system, meaning you can go and you can sign up for different programs -- TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, child care -- under one umbrella."

Friedlander said Kentucky discovered this system could work really well during the pandemic. He said other lessons from the pandemic include learning that CHFS could be "nimble" and "can make changes quickly" and can deliver services in a different, but often "more effective and efficient way."

"As of December 2023, there were approximately 12,514 families participating in the KTAP program, made up of approximately 6,242 adults and 21,534 children. Since 2016 alone, the total number of Kentuckians receiving KTAP had fallen by 54 percent," according to the CHFS.

Community professionals who work with Kynect have a new online resource to connect them with resources and each other

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A new website called KyLoop has launched to provide an online connection space for community professionals who work in outreach and enrollment through Kynect, the state's health insurance website that also provides help with food, cash and childcare assistance and employee child care assistance partnerships.

The aim is to help more consumers enroll in health coverage and other public benefits that are offered on Kynect. It was developed by Kentucky Voices for Health, which advocates for health benefits.

The site not only provides a centralized hub of  resources, but also offers an interactive space for its members to ask questions and share experiences. 

KVH Outreach and Enrollment Director Priscilla Easterling said their ongoing "ThriveKY Roadshows" across the state, which provide updates on state and federal policies that impact health, have revealed just how diffiicult it can be for some people to find resources.

Easterling said the website's two main features have been designed to help combat this. 

One is a resource repository that has a curated list of resources and an option for its members to suggest and share resources that have worked for them. 

"We want this to be as reciprocal as possible . . . so we also have an option for people to suggest resources," Easterling said. "If there's something like a resource in their community that they use, that's really helpful in their work, they can suggest that to us and then we will also post that as well, so that everyone is sort of sharing their collective knowledge and also learning from each other." 

The other feature is a forum that allows the members to "share information, ask questions, report problems, report best practices and just share . . . personal experiences," Easterling said. 

The forum will be searchable, and connected to team of subject-matter experts from KVH's partner organizations who can answer questions that come up on the forum, she said: "If you ask a question and you get an answer, that post stays active for other people to search and find later." 

Easterling also noted that the website can help policy advocacy organizations track and report the problems that people report. 

Membership in the program is limited and the siteg will, not be open to journalists or state officials, so "everyone feels safe and comfortable sharing their experiences and asking questions,"  Easterling said.

"But also, we want to be able to offer that sort of follow-up, so if . . . people report technical barriers, or enrollment barriers, or just things that we're not necessarily aware of, we can still follow up with people and take that information directly to the state, and let them know what's going on and hopefully we can address those issues."

Easterling said the federal healthcare.gov site had a similar program to deal with technical issues when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act rolled out. It has been disbanded, but Massachusetts and Illinois have similar programs and have helped with the Kentucky project, she said. 

KVH has three more ThriveKY Roadshows this year. The next one will be held Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky offices at 1640 Lyndon Farm Ct. in Louisville. Meetings will also be held Oct. 17 in Lexington and Nov. 28 in Paducah. You can register for the meetings online. 

Legislature passes public-assistance reform bill with changes that please advocates, but they and health secretary still see issues

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Legislation aimed at getting able-bodied adults off Medicaid and other public-assistance programs and back into the workforce, and decreasing fraud in the programs, has passed the General Assembly in a watered-down form.

Rep. David  Meade, R-Stanford

"The goal is to make sure that the folks who truly need these benefits are receiving them and that we're cutting down on fraud and cutting down on those who are ineligible," House Speaker Pro Tem David Meade, R-Stanford, said in presenting his House Bill 7 to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee March 28.

The Senate made several changes that made the bill less restrictive and passed it 24-12. The House concurred with the changes and sent the measure to Gov. Andy Beshear on a 70-22 vote.

The Senate adopted an amendment by President Pro Tem David Givens, R-Greensburg, with three changes that further eased some of the restrictions. 

The changes would allow fluctuating income data to be used when determining eligibility, instead of the most recent data available; let Medicaid applicants self-attest their personal information as a last resort to determine their eligibility; and allow the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to apply for a waiver of work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under certain circumstances when the legislature is not in session. 

The bill would still require more documentation since self-attestation is to be used as a last resort and that could create a hardship for many Kentuckians, said Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health: "It creates roadblocks; it creates major delays."

Beauregard said in a letter to the many advocates who opposed the bill that the changes go "a long way in mitigating some of the more harmful provisions of the bill." However, she told Kentucky Health News, "We still continue to oppose the bill." 

Asked his biggest concern when it comes to the new Medicaid requirements, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said, "The increased red tape for individuals." 

Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey said in the floor debate that he appreciated Givens' changes, but still opposed the bill because it could keep tens of thousands of Kentuckians from receiving benefits.

"I think this does make this a better bill," said McGarvey, D-Louisville. "I think the overall bill is still lacking. I thinks it is still punishing people, potentially punishing people just for being poor."

Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, who carried the bill in the Senate, said, "The only way you can lose benefits is if you’re doing something illegal or [are] able-bodied with no dependents at home."

The latter part of that became less certain with one Senate change. It would give the cabinet one year to implement a "community engagement" program for able-bodied adults without dependents who have been enrolled in Medicaid for more than a year, but one without the specific requirements of the original bill.

The original would have required the cabinet to seek a federal waiver to let Kentucky Medicaid require able-bodied adults not primarily responsible for a dependent to participate in at least 80 hours a month of "community engagement," including work. Federal courts say federal law doesn't allow that, but the House bill would have required the cabinet to apply annually, subtly hoping for a political change in the federal government that would allow it.

The final version would make the cabinet implement the program "to the extent permitted under federal law" but does not specify a number of hours or a work requirement, leaving the details to the cabinet.

Beauregard told Kentucky Health News that they could support voluntary community-engagement programs because they are great ways to help people get back to work or find better jobs, especially if combined with child-care and transportation support. 

The bill would also make the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet establish a job-placement assistance program for adults on Medicaid who are able-bodied and not primarily responsible for a dependent.  

It would also create a task force to study the "benefits cliff," the great adjustment faced by many people who go off public assistance but still lack the resources to access health care and other needs.

Even though she voted against the bill, Rep. Angie Hatton, D-Whitesburg, told her House colleagues that the Senate changes allayed many concerns of health advocates.   

"I just think it's a matter of what keeps you up at night," she said on the House floor. "For me, it doesn't keep me up at night worrying that there's a tiny percentage of people who might get benefits who didn't deserve them. What keeps me up at night is worrying that there might be people hungry, who couldn't jump through hoops and get their benefits." 

Meade disputed Hatton's assertion, saying a study by the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky shows that it costs the federal government $1.86 billion and Kentucky taxpayers $186 million per year to pay for all Kentuckians who are enrolled in Medicaid improperly. 

He said Kentucky ranks third in the nation for the biggest increase in improper Medicaid enrollment under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "You can see that we actually do have a major problem in this state," he said, "and that is what we are going to try to start taking care of."  

Here are some other provisions related in HB 7 related to Medicaid:

• After the federal government lifts the pandemic-era limit on the state's ability to disenroll people, the health cabinet would have 12 months to do a full audit of the Medicaid rolls.
• Medicaid coverage for treatment of substance-use disorder for prisoners, included in the 2020 budget, would be put into law.
• The cabinet could not make approve someone for Medicaid under presumptive eligibility before their qualifying paperwork is completed.
• The bill would ban the cabinet from developing a state basic health program for low-income people not eligible for Medicaid without first obtaining specific legislative authorization. 
• The cabinet must must seek a federal waiver to authorize anything it needs to implement the legislation, tell the legislature if it is denied, and reapply "with or without modifications based on instructions from the General Assembly."
• The task force would investigate and report on the cost of using a single electronic benefits card for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps. 
• The attorney general, currently Republican Daniel Cameron, could bring action against the cabinet if he thinks provisions of the bill are not appropriately implemented.
  

Bill to reform public-assistance programs, including Medicaid, is approved by a committee and the House in the same day

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Legislation aimed at tightening Kentucky's rules for public-assistance programs passed out of committee and the full House just hours later on Thursday, with strong opposition from advocates and many Democrats and cries of "fear-mongering" from the prime sponsor. 

House Speaker David Osborne and Speaker Pro Tem David
Meade presented House Bill 7 in committee. (LRC photo)

“The only way that you would lose benefits in this bill is that you were either doing something that is illegal, or you are an able-bodied adult with no dependents that is not willing to participate in the work programs," House Speaker Pro Tem David Meade of Stanford said multiple times on the floor while presenting the bill.

Meade and other supporters of House Bill 7 said it aims to ensure that Kentuckians who are receiving safety-net services such as health and food assistance qualify for them, and to move more able-bodied Kentuckians into jobs, especially as extensions provided because of the pandemic phase out. 

A similar bill passed the House in 2020, but stalled in the Senate. Like last time, this bill is sponsored by Meade and  House Speaker David Osborne of Prospect. Rep. Melinda Gibbons Prunty of Belton in Muhlenberg County recently added her co-sponsorship to this bill. All are Republicans. 

The 27-page bill moved to the Senate on a 71-26 vote. Norma Kirk-McCormick, R-Inez, was the only Republican voting against the measure. 

The bill would require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to apply for a federal waiver so Kentucky could require able-bodied adults without dependents to participate in at least 80 hours a month of qualifying "community engagement" activities to get Medicaid coverage if they have been enrolled in the program for more than 12 months.

"At this point, there's not a chance really that the Biden administration is going to approve" the application, said Dustin Pugel, senior policy analyst at the left-leaning Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. "There's Supreme Court precedent now against it. But that says nothing about what perhaps a future administration or future Supreme Court might decide." 

Anticipating rejection of the application, the bill would require the state to keep applying annually.

KCEP estimates nearly 200,000 people could lose Medicaid coverage, and tens of thousands of Kentuckians could lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits should HB7 pass.

 "If 200,000 Kentuckians lose Medicaid coverage because of HB7, fewer people will be able to go to the doctor for care. That could result in lost jobs at provider offices and more patients seeking uncompensated care in high-cost emergency departments," the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky said in a statement opposing the bill.

"For the reasons outlined above, the foundation opposes HB7 as it is currently written and we urge legislators to oppose any new policies that would prevent Kentuckians from accessing care and food assistance," said the foundation.

HB 7 would also establish a Benefits Cliff Task Force to find ways to bridge the "benefits cliff" that results when a small change in income can cause a big loss of benefits. There is also language directing work on child-care assistance programs for people as their incomes increase above the current limits.

"The goal is to get those folks who are able-bodied adults with no dependents back out into the workforce and to assist them in that when we develop the bridge insurance program and the child-care assistance programs as well," said Meade. 

Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, told the House that she worries that the consequences of the bill will be different than the stated intentions and will result in people getting kicked off their benefits.

At the earlier Health and Family Services Committee meeting, Health Secretary Eric Friedlander estimated that the original bill would probably require the health cabinet to double its current workforce and would cost tens of millions of dollars to simply be able to answer the phones.

"I just think we have the potential for a real disaster situation," Friedlander said.

On the floor, Meade called this estimate "puzzling" because they had removed the most costly part of the bill and some of the work required of the cabinet would also be required by the federal government. He said that the rest of the bill is the same as the 2020 bill, which carried a cost estimate of $20 million, with $15 million of that to be funded by the federal government. 

Asked in committee what problems the bill is trying to solve, Meade said his goal is to reduce the number of ineligible people who are on Medicaid; to put both Medicaid and SNAP benefits on the same EBT card to eliminate any possibility of selling them; and to create a task force to develop a "bridge program" for people who make too much money for Medicaid, but not enough to purchase insurance and to work on the child-care gap to help people work.

Asked on the floor how many people are on the Medicaid rolls who shouldn't be, Meade said discussions with researchers at the University of Kentucky suggest that it could be upwards of 200,000 of the 1.6 million Kentuckians on Medicaid. 

Rep. Kim Moser of Taylor Mill, chair of the health committee, said "We're really trying to streamline and make sure that this is creating efficiencies and not creating barriers." 

Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, scoffed at that: "It is not a bill to streamline our system. It's an evil bill. It's a bill that's going to hurt people."

In support of the bill in committee, Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, said, "I think this commonwealth is long overdue with welfare reform and purging those out of the system that really don't need to be there. . . . I do believe this is a good first step." 

Speaking against the bill in committee, several advocates painted a picture of the challenges faced by people on public assistance. 

"I'm here to ask that we don't punish Kentucky's hardworking people who are in transition or trouble," said Mike Wynn of Grace Health in Eastern Kentucky. "Don't punish them for the few bad actors that abuse the system." Wynn said he had been a Kynector for seven years, helping people get health coverage. 

"This bill would make a very complex process even harder and nearly impossible for some," said Celine Mutuyemariya, a community policy strategist with the Louisville Urban League. "I urge the members of this committee to think about the very real consequences of this bill." She added that she has worked as a community health worker and Kynector in the past. 

Christina Libby, a certified community health worker and Kynector with the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, said it's important to dispel the myth that everyone who is eligible for benefits are getting them or can get them easily. Further, she said it is an "unnecessarily complicated" process. 

"Getting help is already hard, very hard," she said. "It's a demoralizing and discouraging process." 

Kentucky Voices for Health provided lawmakers with a letter signed by 60 organizations and 64 constituents across the state stating their concerns about the bill.

Here are some key provisions related in HB 7 related to Medicaid: 

• After the federal government lifts the pandemic-era limit of the state's ability to disenroll individuals from Medicaid, the health cabinet would have 12 months to do a full audit of Medicaid rolls. 
• Medicaid coverage for treatment of substance-use disorder in prisoners, included in the 2020 budget, would be put into law. 
• The cabinet could not accept self-attestation of income, residency, age, household composition, caretaker or relative status or coverage for the purpose of determining Medicaid eligibility, except for residents of assisted-living and long-term care facilities. 
• The cabinet would have to use only the most recent income verification data available when determining eligibility.
• The cabinet could not make presumptive eligibility determinations, to approve someone for Medicaid before their qualifying paperwork is completed. 
• New rules would be established for for presumptive eligibility determinations by hospitals. 
• The attorney general, currently Republican Daniel Cameron, could bring action against the cabinet if he thinks provisions of the bill are not appropriately implemented.

House passes public-assistance bill with plan for temporary health coverage for people who earn too much to stay on Medicaid

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A bill aimed at moving Kentuckians off public assistance includes several health-related provisions, including a new coverage plan for people who lose their Medicaid benefits if their income rises above the limit for the program.

House Speaker Pro Tem David Meade
presents House Bill 1. (LRC photo)

A heavily revised version of House Bill 1 passed the House Feb. 21 by a vote of 58-32. It was along party lines, except one Democrat who voted for it: Rep. John Sims of Flemingsburg.

Other Democrats said the bill was rushed, but Speaker Pro Tem David Meade, R-Stanford, its lead sponsor, said "We are trying to find a good balance between compassion to help those folks in those situation who truly need care and help in these public assistance programs, but also a balance of accountability."

Most of the bill is aimed at cracking down on fraud, but a major part of it would provide a temporary state health-insurance option for Kentuckians who stop being eligible for Medicaid because their income exceeds 138 percent of the federal poverty level, $17,609 for a single person. It would be available for those earning up to 200% of the poverty line, $25,520 for an individual.

This provision addresses the "benefit cliff," the term for the loss of public benefits by people whose earnings exceed limits for programs but who are unlikely to have jobs with health insurance or the money to afford it. Republicans said they had heard stories of people who ask employers not to give them raises so they can keep their Medicaid benefits.

This health insurance program would require premiums and cost sharing to rise 25% for every 15% in income above 138% of the poverty line. Participants could stay in the program for a year after exiting Medicaid, with a possibility of extension on a case-by-case basis.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a major focus of the bill, as is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It would remove from the programs individuals who fraudulently misuse their benefits card, or are completely able-bodied adults with no dependents who choose not to participate in a community engagement program, including work, school or volunteering, if such requirements are implemented. It would expand many benefits, with task groups formed to explore further expansions.

Democratic objections

Some Democrats said they agreed with the goals of the bill, but said it was rushed. They questioned its enforcement costs and said it would lead to lawsuits.

"Although there are good elements in this piece of legislation that I'm glad to see move forward, they are really stamped and trampled on by the bad parts of this legislation," said Rep. Charles Booker, D-Louisville.

Meade said, "What you're hearing today is, we like the expansion of benefits, we want to continue to give people more but we don't want to hold anyone accountable."

The House adopted two amendments from Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, one of which had to do with health. It would require the state to apply for a waiver of the rules to allow Medicaid to pay for substance-use disorder treatment for people who are incarcerated.

The bill would ban from Medicaid and other programs people who violate the rules.

For example, those who are convicted of a drug-related felony who are released from incarceration and fail to sign up for substance-use treatment within 90 days of release would be banned from getting Medicaid, but the bill makes provisions for regaining coverage.

Dustin Pugel, policy analyst for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, wrote that "a similar ban in SNAP in Kentucky has led to thousands losing food assistance and likely more who never applied due to a past conviction." Further, he writes that "Medicaid law doesn't allow bans contingent on recovery status or for people with a drug-related felony conviction."

If passed, Gov. Andy Beshear's administration would be required to implement the measures within 120 days. Beshear said Friday, "I want to continue to see where they're going, but I don't believe in a system that pushes people off of benefits." Mark Vanderhoff reports for WLKY-TV.

Beshear added, "I believe in a system that encourages people and gives them the tools to get jobs with higher wages where you naturally move off of them. I believe in providing people opportunity -- not consequences."

Medicaid work requirements?

Reflecting Republicans' concern about the cost of the 2014 Medicaid expansion, the bill says that if the state General Fund appropriation for this population reaches half of General Fund spending on Medicaid overall, those who have been on the expansion for a year would have to participate in at least 80 hours a month of "qualifying activities," presumably work, school or volunteering.

That seems unlikely; the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy reports that it is currently only 10.7% of the budget. Such requirements were an integral part of former Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to overhaul the state's Medicaid program. It and a similar plan in Arkansas were blocked twice by a federal judge, and Beshear rescinded the plan soon after taking office in December.

Several lawmakers predicted that this part of the bill would be challenged in court, noting that a federal appeals court recently upheld the rulings against Arkansas's plan. The Supreme Court may or may not hear an appeal.

Meade said it is "well worth the risk" of a legal challenge to these community engagement requirements for able-bodied workers because they have been shown to move people off public assistance and increase their income in other states.

Concerns about fraud

Much of the debate was around the issue of fraud in public assistance programs, an issue that Rep. Nima Kulkarni, D-Louisville, said likely has to do more with perception than reality.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that public-assistance fraud is 1%, and it was mentioned during the debate that it's reported at 2% in Kentucky.

"My concern here is that we are ignoring actual facts, actual numbers . . . and going with opinions and potential numbers that are not in existence, that we have not heard about in this body," Kulkarni said. "In our zeal to counteract the tiny fraction of fraud that may be occurring in Kentucky, we are potentially impacting millions of lives that are using these programs to simply lift their families out of poverty, to put food on the table at night. I really urge the body to think long and hard about the unintended consequences of this bill to those individuals that are properly using the benefits that they so desperately need."

Early in the two-and-a-half-hour debate, Meade corrected a statement he made Feb. 20 that there were studies showing upwards of 40% of fraud in public assistance programs. He corrected that to say that a group had told him that with its current detection systems, Kentucky was likely only catching 30 to 40% of the fraud in the system. When asked who that group was, he declined to answer. But he said he thinks it is higher than 2% because people are very creative when they commit fraud. "To say that we only have a 2 percent fraud rate, that we feel we are catching it all, is just not imaginable in my mind."

But House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins, D-Louisville, said, "I think what we have here is an attempt to go after a gnat, and when you go after a gnat with a sledgehammer, you tend to destroy the whole darn thing."

Website eases application process for SNAP, formerly food stamps, and promotes healthy food

With a federal grant, the state Department for Community Based Services has launched a customer service website to promote healthy foods by assisting the families receiving food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps.

The portal allows people to check their eligibility for SNAP and apply for benefits with a shorter application that will be followed by a DCBS interview. They can also check their benefit status, report changes and receive electronic notices.

The agency says an online application eliminates any transportation issues a family may have with visiting a DCBS office, and encourages applications. “Modern improvements like this make it easier for families to apply for benefits and ultimately increase access to healthy food,” said Audrey Haynes, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which houses DCBS.

“SNAP helps people of all ages afford healthy food,” said DCBS Commissioner Teresa James. “For some of our DCBS customers, it means the difference between having a family meal or nothing at all. This website makes applying for benefits, making updates or accessing information even easier since customers don’t have to make an office appointment or even pick up the phone to get help.”

Since the portal’s launch on March 11, DCBS has received more than 1,000 electronic applications. Click here to learn more about SNAP. 

No vote taken on bill for drug tests for recipients of public aid

Despite motions to do so Thursday, the House Health and Welfare Committee did not vote on a bill that would require Kentuckians who receive public assistance to submit to random drug testing. The bill did not receive a vote because there is no money to pay for the drug testing and rehabilitation that would be required, said committee chairman Tom Burch, D-Louisville.

Maysville native Ruth Chamblin spoke at the meeting, saying her 12-month-old great-niece might still be alive if such a bill had been made law, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave reports. Chamblin's great-niece died after she was allegedly beaten by her niece's then-boyfriend. Fearing investigation, Chamblin's niece neglected to take her daughter to the doctor for four days after the alleged attack, and the baby consequently died. The family was on public assistance at the time, and the boyfriend was reportedly a drug abuser.

House Bill 208, sponsored by Republican Rep. Lonnie Napier of Lancaster, right, would require random drug testing for people who receive Medicaid, food stamps and other kinds of public assistance. Those who test positive on the drug screening would have 60 days to get treatment. They would continue to receive public assistance in the meantime, but if they repeatedly failed more tests their assistance would be cut off. The reasoning behind the bill is to stop people from selling food stamps to buy drugs, Napier said.

Napier said the drug testing would cost about $1.5 million a year. One Idaho study has concluded drug testing for state-aid recipients is inefficient. (Read more)