Medicaid settlement to provide rural Kentucky hospitals with about $383 million

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Thanks to the end of a 13-year dispute over Medicaid funding rates, rural Kentucky hospitals will be paid nearly about 383 million, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday.

The governor credited U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for helping settle the lawsuit, which will give dozens of hospitals long-awaited, immediate funding: $383 million in state and federal money to split between the facilities.

The dispute started in 2007 when hospitals claimed methods used by Kentucky Medicaid were invalid. Medicaid is a mostly federally funded — but state administered — health insurance program primarily for the poor, pregnant women and people with disabilities.

Beshear said that under the administration of his predecessor, Matt Bevin, the state was to pay for all of the funds, but thanks to the settlement Beshear's administration reached, the federal government will pay for $289 million, and Kentucky only for about $94 million.