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TOM BERRY/Ledger & Times
Gov. Steve Beshear and his wife, Jane, field questions about affordable health care, better educational opportunities, more good jobs, answers to high fuel prices and other issues from Murray-Calloway County residents Tuesday night at Calloway County High School. |
Gov. hears Calloway concerns
By TOM BERRY
Staff Writer
What is the state doing to provide affordable health care to residents, better access to educational opportunities, more good-paying jobs and help for those providing care to the elderly and disabled at home?
Those were just a few of the questions Gov. Steve Beshear confronted during a visit to Murray Tuesday night at Calloway County High School as part of the governor's “Beshear About Kentucky Town Hall Series.”
About 400 to 450 Murray-Calloway County and other area residents crowded the CCHS gymnasium to speak to the governor about various issues on their minds. The series of 13 meetings across the state is intended to give residents a chance to tell Frankfort what needs to be done to make living in Kentucky a bit brighter in the future.
The meetings will end at 6 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) at Paducah Tilghman High School.
Other topics brought up by parents, teachers, students, local political leaders and others include laws regulating sex offenders, the need for a fair grading scale for high school students seeking state money to go to college, the shipping of Kentucky jobs to “Third World” or poor and undeveloped countries, the teacher retirement system, casino gambling, and cigarette taxes to pay for health care.
However access to affordable health care or health care insurance was the topic brought up most often.
Susan Tharpe, a representative for Murray's Center for Accessible Living, questioned why more than 80 percent of Medicaid dollars were being paid to doctors, hospitals and nursing homes leaving very little for at-home care and assistance for those in need. Tharpe's question was matched by several similar inquiries about providing at-home care to children and family members with very little if any assistance from the state and federal government.
For complete story, see today's Ledger & Times
Story created Aug 20, 2008 - 12:30:57 EDT.
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