On Monday, Eric Friedlander, Secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, offered an update on healthcare and the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program.
“As of today, more than 1.6 million Kentuckians have enrolled in Medicaid,” Friedlander said. “That’s a little more than one in three Kentuckians. Especially during a pandemic, it is vitally important for people to have health care coverage. We have also provided more than 100,000 households with access to food through SNAP benefits. We are the only state that I know of that has proactively reached out to those who have had to apply for unemployment insurance to see if they are also eligible for other benefits.”
He said eligibility for the program still is based on National School Lunch Program participation.
Benefit amounts vary by student, Friedlander said, adding that new cards will be automatically sent to each child in early October, “but some children may not receive their cards until the end of November.”
He said 541,844 Kentucky students were enrolled in the P-EBT program.
“We provided P-EBT benefits to more than 500,000 children in Kentucky in the first phase,” Friedlander said. “In the second phase, you don’t have to apply. Over 625,000 children are going to receive meals. We will be sending these benefits to you, sometime in the month of October.”
Anyone with questions regarding the benefit is asked to call 855-306-8959 and select the food benefits option for more information about the cards that will sent via the mail.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
