A former dentistry professor says members of Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration pressured University of Kentucky officials to fire him after he wrote a critique of the governor’s plan to reshape the state’s Medicaid system.
Dr. Raynor Mullins, who worked at UK for more than 40 years, filed the suit in federal court against UK Healthcare Vice President Mark Birdwhistell, UK College of Dentistry Dean Stephanos Kyrkanides and an unknown member of Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration listed as “John Doe.”
Birdwhistell is also heading up Bevin’s efforts to reshape Kentucky’s Medicaid system by applying for an 1115 waiver — a process whereby the federal government allows a state to change how Medicaid is run within its borders.
Bevin’s proposal would require most able-bodied Medicaid recipients to pay monthly premiums and require them to prove they’re working, seeking work or doing community service.
The proposal would also eliminate vision and dental benefits as basic benefits provided under Medicaid.
Last year, Mullins and four other professors wrote a critique of Bevin’s application to the federal government asking for permission to tighten eligibility requirements for the state’s Medicaid system.
In the lawsuit, Mullins alleges that Kyrkanides sought his termination because of the public comments submitted in opposition to Bevin’s waiver application.
Mullins alleges that Kyrkanides advised him to go “off the radar” and “keep a low profile”— statements which Mullins says were intended “for the purpose of controlling, manipulating, and silencing Dr. Mullins, while Defendant determined how to end Dr. Mullins’ faculty appointment.”
“Defendant Kyrkanides told Dr. Mullins that it was a very bad strategy ‘to piss the Governor off,’ and that Dr. Mullins’ public comments had indeed ‘pissed off’ the Governor,” Mullins’ lawyer wrote in the complaint.
Mullins also said that Kyrkanides warned him that “these threats flowed form the Governor’s office.”
“Defendant Kyrkanides also cautioned Dr. Mullins that as a state employee, ‘we all work for the Governor,’ and threateningly told Dr. Mullins that Governor Bevin is ultimately Dr. Mullins’ ‘boss.’”
