During the first meeting of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Kentucky Task Force, lawmakers said they want to address food deserts and food quality, childhood obesity, mental health and health care costs, among other things.
Members and non members had a slew of ideas for what the task force should focus on — including education, diabetes, personal responsibility around health, the importance of physical fitness, agricultural partnerships, chronic illnesses, dental care, cancer and other topics.
Co-chair Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said the task force could “chase a lot of rabbits” but should stay focused. She and co-chair Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville, want to place emphasis on food quality and availability.
In 2023, 753,410 Kentuckians were food insecure, meaning they don’t have enough to eat and may not know where their next meal will come from. Meanwhile, the “big beautiful bill” Republicans in the U.S. House passed in May shifts to state governments some of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food to low-income Americans.
The Kentucky General Assembly created the MAHA Kentucky Task Force this year as a way to implement the Trump administration’s principles in the commonwealth.
Hot button topics like fluoridated water will come up during the interim, Funke Frommeyer said, but “I don’t think you’ll hear that in our committee.” In the 2025 session, a bill to make fluoride in water optional in Kentucky passed the House but not the Senate.
Task force members, in addition to Funke Frommeyer and Lockett, are Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville; Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville; Sen. Craig Richardson, R-Hopkinsville; Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville; Rep. Emily Callaway, R-Louisville; Rep. Robert Duvall, R-Bowling Green; Rep. Adam Moore, D-Lexington; and Rep. Marianne Proctor, R-Union.
Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, who is not a task force member but shared his thoughts during the Wednesday meeting, said “the work that will be done here will touch every committee that we have in the legislature.”
“We forget that we don’t live and work in a vacuum, and everybody’s going to be impacted by this, said Meredith, a retired hospital executive. “I’ve been preaching for the last year about the unsustainable growth in health care costs, particularly in the United States. If we don’t get control of this, I truly believe it’s going to cause our economy to collapse.”
The next task force meeting is July 10 at 3 p.m.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist and Kentuckian. She has covered everything from crime to higher education. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since.
