LEXINGTON — Heading into 2026, the “elephant in the room” for Kentucky policymakers will be Medicaid, said Senate Republican Leader Max Wise, speaking Tuesday during Kentucky Voices for Health’s annual meeting.  Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a Democrat from Louisville, told the gathering that her constituents “are really concerned” about Medicaid changes coming as a result of cutbacks approved by Republicans in Congress and signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year. “Folks are scared to death to lose that health care,” Marzian said. “Medicaid is insurance, it’s not health care. But they’re scared to death to lose that ability to be able to access the provider when you’re sick (and) when you’re not sick and you have a wellness check.”  They were speaking on a bipartisan panel at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington. Sheila Schuster, a longtime mental health advocate and leader, moderated the discussion. Advocates and experts have said Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will cut Medicaid by $900 billion over 10 years, could cause 130,000 Kentuckians to lose health care coverage and put rural hospitals at risk of reducing services or closing. Medicaid is the federal-state program that pays for almost 1 in 3 Kentuckians’ health care.  “We can look at being compassionate, and also being responsible, as we go forward as the Commonwealth as it relates to Medicaid,” said Wise of Campbellsville.  Of particular interest to Wise — his wife is a dentist — is a focus on oral health in a state with extremely poor oral health, ranked 49th in the nation, and low reimbursement rates that keep many dentists from treating Medicaid patients. “Oral health is a priority in our family (and) it should be across the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Wise said.  Rep. Ken Fleming, R-Louisville, stressed Medicaid’s high cost to federal and state taxpayers   as “nothing to sneeze at” and “not sustainable.”  He also said it’s important for the General Assembly to look at social determinants of health — housing and transportation access, for example.  “We look at how they’re getting from day in and day out, in order to make ends come together,” he said.  Lawmakers also said they plan to focus on housing, artificial intelligence and disaster recovery as the legislature crafts the next state budget during the 60-day legislative session that begins Jan. 6.   On housing Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, wants to focus on housing and homelessness during the 2026 legislative session. Eastern Kentucky was hit hard in back-to-back deadly floods in recent years.  “We had a housing shortage before the first flood,” Smith said. “I don’t think anybody can deny that. And when the flood hit, the first one, it made it critical. And then now it’s hard to even describe … you still have so many people there that are living in somebody else’s home. They’re not sleeping in their own house.”   Rep. Derek Lewis, R-London, said he’ll focus on disaster recovery among other issues. Lewis serves on an artificial intelligence task force and said to expect legislation on AI.  “The main thing is you don’t want to hinder the advancements of what this technology can do, but at the same time, you’ve got to be cognizant of having guardrails in place and making sure that that is protected as well,” he said. “But … you’ll see some advancements on that.”  GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The post KY lawmakers say Medicaid’s future weighs on their minds and their constituents’  appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less