As COVID-19 case numbers balloon, Beshear unveils top healthcare priorities
On the same day that COVID-19 cases hit yet another record high in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear unveiled several healthcare items from his upcoming budget address.
The governor announced 11,232 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 21 new deaths due to the virus. The official COVID-19 testing positivity rate is also a record high: 27.39%.
Beshear and state health officials have said that the vast majority of the cases are of the omicron variant, a somewhat milder form of the virus which has swept across much of the world.
Though Republicans control the state legislature with veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers -- and their budget bill, House Bill 1, which has received two readings as of Wednesday -- GOP leaders have said they would consider the governor’s budget.
Filing such a bill before the governor’s address was a break with tradition, but House Speaker David Osboren, R-Prospect, said that it would be a “waste of time” to wait.
Beshear will deliver his formal address on Thursday.
What’s included and what’s different from Republicans’ proposal?
Beshear said that the healthcare portion of his budget proposal emphasizes that “everyone counts” and that great needs like the nursing shortage are addressed.
“It’s a Kentucky value: taking care of our neighbors,” Beshear said. “This budget makes it a top priority.”
Major themes include money funding nursing programs, pediatric care, health departments, trauma response, mental health and veterans.
Major items in Beshear’s healthcare budget include:
▪ $400 million to KY ‘frontline heroes,’ which includes nurses and health department workers among others.
▪ Budget fully funds Medicaid program, on which one in three Kentuckians rely
▪ Provides $6 million each year to increase the number of scholarships awarded to potential nurses. Current scholarships only supports around 150 students while the proposal doubles the maximum award from $1,500 per semester to $3,000 a semester.
▪ Provides $5 million each year for nurse student loan forgiveness and $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State Fiscal Recovery Funds to enhance nurse recruitment
▪ $36 million through fiscal year 2024 to “transform” 60 local Kentucky local health departments.
▪ Funding to implement a new ‘988’ crisis support line to replace the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in July 2024. Beshear said it would increase calls by 56%.
▪ 34% increase in funding to Domestic Violence Centers, Rape Crisis Centers and Child Advocacy Centers.
▪ 17% rate increase for residential and therapeutic foster care providers.
▪ Funding to staff the new Office of Dementia Services to help 73,000 Kentuckians with Dementia.
▪ Compared to House Bill 1, Beshear said that his proposal invested more in additional staff for Veterans Affairs, as well as outreach and restoration of private veterans’ cemeteries.
▪ An additional 49,000 meals per week for hungry seniors that House Bill 1 does not fund.
Beshear called it a “responsible and real budget” that takes advantage of an historic surplus but also holds up under fiscal scrutiny. The governor and staff called healthcare a “human right” during the press conference.
