For at least the next fiscal year, senior home-delivered meals are back on the menu for Kentuckians.
In a letter dated Friday, October 17, and from the Office of Kentucky’s Budget Director John T. Hicks, a general fund appropriation valued at $9.1 million has been transferred from the Medicaid Benefits line item to the Aging and Independent Living line item.
Multiple sources have indicated the state and its Area Development District faced around a $10 million shortfall in the 2024-26 biennium budget — which became exacerbated this past September when DAIL officials asked several ADD’s to severely reduce their home-delivered programming.
Hicks noted this is coming from a $25 million contingent that was originally part of a proposal by the Kentucky General Assembly that did not occur in the 2025 regular session.
Sen. Greg Elkins, R-Winchester and co-chair of the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee (LOIC), has since commended Hicks and his decision to transfer funding from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services to restore the senior meal program back to its original strength.
Elkins further wrote that this action followed “weeks of legislative pressure and public scrutiny,” which demanded a solution for thousands of older Kentuckians who were informed they would have to return to waiting lists for hot meals.
Elkins further noted that he and his colleagues “made it clear” the executive branch already had the authority and the flexibility to move existing funds to meet this need, and that they “stood ready to correct the mistake” if called into a special session. Elkins added it “shouldn’t have taken public outcry for the administration to act.”
The Kentucky General Assembly is expected to take further action this January, when considering the 2026-28 biennium budget.
This is a developing story.
