FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A legislative committee has begun
negotiations on differing proposals to balance Kentucky's Medicaid
budget.

The House and Senate have been pushing starkly different ways of shoring up finances in the government program that provides medical care for more than 800,000 of the state's poor, disabled and
elderly residents.

House and Senate negotiators gathered in a Capitol conference
room Monday morning to begin talks.

The House supports a proposal first offered by Gov. Steve
Beshear that would simply shift $166.5 million in Medicaid funds
from next fiscal year's appropriations to be used now. It also
would carve out an additional $425 million in savings next year by
privatizing some Medicaid programs.

The Senate proposal calls for 2.26 percent cuts to all
government programs to make up for the Medicaid deficit.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)