FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s Republican Auditor Allison Ball intensified criticism of Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration, citing more than $1 billion in alleged waste, fraud, and abuse within the state’s executive branch.
Testifying before a congressional committee in Washington, D.C., led by Kentucky Congressman James Comer, Ball said her office identified over $830 million in wasteful Medicaid spending.
“My office has uncovered over $1 billion of waste, fraud and abuse within Kentucky’s executive branch,” Ball said. “These problems include dead people remaining on Kentucky Medicaid, multiple people using the same social security number to obtain Medicaid, and ineligible non-citizens receiving Medicaid benefits.”
Responding during his weekly Team Kentucky briefing, Beshear disputed the claims.
“Her claims are wildly inflated,” he told WHAS11. “That $800 million is a wild extrapolation from a small subset. It comes from databases that the federal government would not give states access to. We finally have it, and we’re finding very low numbers in that. It is nothing remotely close to that.”
Ball and Beshear have clashed for years, with the auditor launching multiple investigations into the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees programs including foster care. Beshear has criticized Ball for, at times, sharing findings publicly before informing his administration.
“If an audit is done right, it is not hyperbolic, it is not talked about on Capitol Hill — it’s meant to provide help to the organizations that are there,” Beshear said.
Ball, however, maintained the issue should not be viewed through a partisan lens.
“If we take waste, fraud and abuse seriously, we can ensure that every family gets needed assistance without breaking the backs of American taxpayers,” she told Congress. “And we should be able to work together.”
Medicaid remains one of the largest expenses in Kentucky’s state budget, which lawmakers set every two years, including during the 2026 legislative cycle.
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