Supporters of KY’s Lee Specialty Clinic supporters want politics put aside to avert cuts
With the governor and Republicans trading barbs over who’s at fault for cuts to Kentucky’s Lee Specialty Clinic, more than 100 people showed up to the Capitol Annex to rally in support of the facility Wednesday.
Wearing bright yellow t-shirts with the phrase “SaveLeeClinic.org,” supporters of the clinic pushed politicians to find ways to stave off anticipated cuts. The clinic, based in Louisville, is a state-funded facility that serves around 1,300 patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including medical and psychiatry services. Around two weeks ago, staff members learned about cuts that would go into effect July 15 and could result in patients being removed from services, according to reporting from Louisville Public Media.
For over an hour, clinic patients, family members and others testified in front of the Medicaid Advisory and Oversight Board Wednesday, begging lawmakers and Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration to work together and find a solution.
Tina Davis, whose son is a patient at Lee Specialty Clinic, said the clinic is her family and the reason why her son got to participate in the Special Olympics.
“They taught him how to communicate. His physical therapist taught him how to go from here to there. His OT therapist taught him how to desensitize his body,” Davis said. “They taught him that. I didn’t know how to do none of that.”
Beshear and the GOP-controlled General Assembly are pointing the finger at each other in assigning blame for the cuts. Beshear says the two-year state budget bill that passed during the 2026 legislative session contained funding shortfalls for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which prompted these cuts.
Republicans, meanwhile, say Beshear has the resources to support the clinic and is choosing to cut services.
Rally draws over 100 supporters and emotional testimony
During the board meeting, multiple people asked lawmakers to put politics aside and help one of the most vulnerable populations.
Scott Brightman said his son David, who is 42 years old, has been a clinic patient since 2015. Brightman said the cuts could disrupt families who already suffer enough hardship and don’t deserve to experience more difficulties.
“As a parent of a child being served by the clinic, served exceedingly well, I’m asking the cabinet to reconsider its decision and do so before it’s too late,” Brightman said.
Kim Thompson said the care her son receives at the clinic is “top-notch” and called the employees “unicorns.”
“This is not like a regular medical facility that you could just walk into,” Thompson said. “Everyone is highly specialized with an adult intellectual developmental disability population, and they are working day and night to treat this population. I encourage both the legislature, the governor’s office and the cabinet ... please do not put us or pin us as political pawns in any kind of game about funding the clinic.”
Ali Oney, who works at Lee Specialty Clinic, told the Herald-Leader she was shocked when she heard about the cuts.
“We have an over two-year wait list,” Oney said. “We could have a whole other lLeeclinic, and it would be filled to the brim (with) patients, and still a wait list, so it’s not the lack of need if patients need places to go, and so that’s what was most shocking about it.”
Democrats blame budget cuts, House Democrats send letter to Osborne
Beshear said in a June 23 statement that these cuts were “completely unavoidable” for his administration, and warned about the “painful impacts” in January in his State of the Commonwealth Address.
“Unfortunately, the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly chose not to follow my budget but instead created and passed their own, with more than $1 billion less than these necessary services cost the commonwealth,” Beshear said.
In the executive branch budget passed by the legislature, lawmakers included a specific line-item for Lee Specialty Clinic and put $720,000 towards it from the General Fund in fiscal year 2027 and $697,500 in the following fiscal year. That’s a decrease from what the clinic received in fiscal year 2026, which was $750,000.
But the biggest cut for the clinic stems from the funding it receives from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The CFHS budget has a 4% reduction for fiscal year 2027 and 7% in fiscal year 2028.
CFHS spokesperson Elizabeth Fisher said in a statement the budget forced a “$4.5 million total reduction for the Lee Specialty Clinic, which would cause significant reductions to the outpatient services provided by the clinic.”
“Team Kentucky believes healthcare is a basic human right, which is why in January, Gov. Beshear presented a balanced budget proposal that funded the needs of the Department for Community Based Services and would have maintained full funding and services at the Lee Specialty Clinic,” Fisher said.
Kentucky House Democrats are also urging Republican leadership to preserve clinic funding and sent a letter to House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, Tuesday afternoon.
In the letter, the House Democratic Caucus asked that $14 million currently set aside for debt service related to the Capitol Annex renovation be used instead for funding for Lee Specialty Clinic and other nonprofits.
“For years, Lee Specialty Clinic has provided essential healthcare services to Kentuckians with intellectual or developmental disabilities, whose complex needs require care that is virtually impossible to obtain elsewhere,” the letter reads. “The clinic serves real people facing real health challenges. Its patients should not become collateral damage in a budget process that failed to account for the practical realities of agency operations.”
Republicans say the money and resources are there
Some Republicans believe Beshear’s blame on the General Assembly is misplaced, and say Beshear is not prioritizing funding Lee Specialty Clinic.
Osborne said in a statement to the Herald-Leader that the Beshear administration has the flexibility and funding to continue supporting the clinic.
“Lawmakers deserve clear data and evidence to explain these decisions,” Osborne said. “Without that transparency, it appears the administration is choosing to cut services that are a lifeline for thousands of Kentuckians rather than reducing spending on outdated, duplicative, ineffective, or nonessential programs.”
While Beshear said in a video on social media from Tuesday he is working on a plan to address the Lee Specialty Clinic cuts, his fix is anticipated only to be a “band-aid” and work for the upcoming budget year.
“They know what they did, and that’s why they’re now saying I have this flexibility to move money from point A to point B so that they can criticize any cuts that are being made, but remember, if you starve everything, you’re just moving money from one starved program that’s already hurting to another,” Beshear said.
