Author
Deborah Yetter
Parents go to federal court to save bus service to Louisville’s magnet schools
Two parents have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Jefferson County Public Schools’ plan to drop bus service to most magnet schools this fall, claiming it violates the rights of their children to continue education at schools they currently attend. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville Thursday, comes two months after the board […]
Molina Healthcare donates site for West Louisville’s first new middle school in 90 years
A new middle school is planned for a long-vacant site in West Louisville where Passport Health, the state’s first Medicaid managed care company once hoped to build its corporate headquarters. The news was celebrated at a press conference Friday by a host of state and local officials and representatives of the predominantly Black area of […]
Sallie Bingham, foundation she endowed face off in court over future of Hopscotch House
LOUISVILLE — Tucked away on a 412-acre farm in eastern Jefferson County, Hopscotch House, a rambling, five-bedroom farmhouse dating to 1848, was envisioned as a peaceful sanctuary for women artists and writers when the Kentucky Foundation for Women acquired it in 1987. But its plan to sell the house has triggered an acrimonious battle with […]
Juvenile justice: ‘From nothing to something and then right back to nothing’
The mood was celebratory as Kentucky and federal officials crowded into the Capitol Rotunda on a cold January day in 2001 to announce the end of five years of federal oversight of the state’s problem-ridden juvenile justice system. “We’re never going to slide back to where we were in 1995,” said then-Juvenile Justice Commissioner Ralph […]
U.S. Department of Justice investigating Kentucky juvenile detention conditions
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into the conditions at eight of the youth detention centers and one development center in the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.? “The investigation will examine whether Kentucky protects children confined in these facilities from harm caused by excessive force by staff, prolonged and punitive […]
More Kentucky children have kept Medicaid coverage compared with other states
Kentucky is among a handful of states that lost only a small percentage of children from its Medicaid program in 2023 even as the number of kids cut from coverage soared elsewhere under annual renewal requirements that had been suspended during COVID-19. Overall, 4.16 million children were dropped from the government health plan that covers […]
Baptist Health, Humana restore ‘in network’ coverage for Medicare Advantage patients
Baptist Health and Humana have ended a months-long standoff over Kentuckians with health coverage through Medicare Advantage and commercial insurance plans, the two companies announced Thursday. Effective April 1, Baptist physicians again will accept those patients as “in network”— meaning they would not be subject to potentially higher costs or limits on services. The news, […]
Senate budget restores Medicaid funding that House cut, but process is far from over
The Kentucky Senate has largely eliminated cuts to Medicaid that were proposed in the House budget. A top state official had warned the House plan would create a hole next year in the federal-state health plan that covers 1.5 million low-income Kentuckians. “We are pleased that the Senate’s proposed budget restores funding to Medicaid so […]
Kentucky Supreme Court tie vote leaves Medicaid managed care contracts in place
In a quick turnaround, the Kentucky Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that five insurance companies will retain the right to oversee most of the state’s $15 billion annual Medicaid business, appearing to end a long-running court fight. Anthem Kentucky, which had challenged the contract award, will be excluded, according to a Supreme […]
Kentucky Supreme Court hears from insurers fighting over share of state’s Medicaid business
FRANKFORT — A dispute involving six insurance companies over a share of Kentucky’s $15 billion a year Medicaid business moved to the state Supreme Court Thursday where justices tried to sort out a long running battle over the lucrative contracts. Litigation has stretched on several years, largely over Anthem Kentucky’s claim it was unfairly shut […]
Is in vitro fertilization under threat in Kentucky too? Law matching Alabama’s deepens concerns
For Lisa Sobel and her husband, being able to have a child through in vitro fertilization, or IVF, was “a dream come true.” “For us, this really is a joy,” Sobel, of Louisville, said. “We want for there to be other families to be able to have this joy.” But the recent state Supreme Court […]
Under threat from industry ‘middlemen,’ independent pharmacies gain allies in D.C., Frankfort
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined a White House roundtable discussion Monday on prescription drug costs that also featured U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, pharmacy entrepreneur Mark Cuban and several community pharmacists from around the country. The main topic was insurance industry middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, and panelists were […]