Disabled rally as details of House budget plan trickle out

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — With tears in his eyes, James Cheely paused before a House budget subcommittee on Wednesday as he tried to explain his most important job title.

“I’m the father of a 21-year-old son, Bryan, that has a developmental disability,” he said.

Cheely, a coordinator with the Special Olympics of Kentucky and a member of an association for the mentally handicapped in Barren County, was among dozens who asked legislators during a budget hearing Wednesday to spare the mentally ill, mentally handicapped, elderly and chronically ill from budget cuts.

Later on Wednesday, the 874 Coalition — named for the estimated 874,000 people with disabilities in Kentucky — held a rally to repeat that message to lawmakers.

The rally came as House leaders are poised to unveil in coming days a two-year state budget that deals with a projected $1.5 billion shortfall in the General Fund. That plan does not include any major cuts to social services, said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.

However, the plan does remove about $220 million in General Fund dollars from the state’s Medicaid program in hopes that Congress will approve more federal funds for the program by January 2011. If that doesn’t happen, Gov. Steve Beshear told those at the 874 rally that the state could lose $600 million in matching money from the federal government for Medicaid.

“We’re going to have a total $800 million hole in the budget,” Beshear said. “We don’t need to be balancing this budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in Kentucky.”

House leaders also are considering cutting about $90 million in professional service contracts and eliminating almost 250 political appointees across the three branches of government. That includes about 125 positions in the executive branch.

Other parts of the plan include unspecified tweaks to the state’s health insurance program and delaying some construction projects until fiscal year 2012, which begins July 1, 2011.

Cheely and others who depend on Medicaid agreed with Beshear’s criticism of the House plan on Wednesday.

Bryan Cheely has received a host of services through the state’s Medicaid program for the poor and disabled since November. Those services not only improved his quality of life but have helped the Cheely family, the elder Cheely told the committee.

“I would encourage the committee to discourage cuts to Medicaid,” Cheely.

Stumbo and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, defended the House’s plan to bank on not-yet-approved federal funding for the Medicaid program.

“His criticisms run hollow,” Williams said of Beshear. “We can anticipate at least six more months of Medicaid stimulus dollars. The governor should stop criticizing and try to start working with people.”

Stumbo noted that a much-needed replacement for Eastern State Hospital — which would cost about $130 million — is still in the House budget proposal.

Eastern State Hospital in Lexington is the second-oldest psychiatric facility in the country. Advocates have been pushing for a decade to replace the decaying facility.

Williams also said Wednesday that he agrees with the House’s proposal to cut political appointees, or non-merit employees, and to trim spending on outside contracts.

The House plan would cut spending on professional service contracts to 2007 levels, which Stumbo said would save about $90 million.

However, only 26 percent — $77 million — of the state’s professional service contracts in fiscal year 2009 were paid for with General Fund dollars, according to a document prepared by the Office of the State Budget Director. The remaining professional service contracts were paid for with federal funds, capital construction dollars or other funds.

According to the State Budget Office, there were approximately $299 million in professional service contracts that year, not including a $742.7 million contract for Passport, a managed care program for Medicaid in the greater Louisville area.

The majority of professional service contracts — about 54 percent — are used by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to deliver services to the disabled and chronically ill, the document said.

House committee chairmen were told about the House plan on Wednesday evening and House Republican leaders and the House Democratic Caucus will get more details of the proposal on Thursday. Stumbo said a bill could be ready early next week.

Meanwhile, the rift between House Democratic leaders and Beshear appears to have worsened. Beshear sent House leaders a letter on Wednesday, saying that despite efforts on the part of his staff, he has yet to meet with House leaders about the budget since a meeting on Feb.10.

Stumbo said Wednesday that he will meet with Beshear after they have gotten the green light from the House on their proposal.