Medicaid push urged

Ex-health chiefs back expansion

Two former Louisiana health care secretaries pushed Friday for expanding Medicaid in the state to cover thousands of uninsured residents, pitting them against Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal.

David Hood was secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals under Republican former Gov. Mike Foster. Fred Cerise was DHH secretary under Democratic former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. The two men were featured in an ad published in The Advocate calling the Medicaid expansion a good deal for Louisiana.

“Medicaid expansion offers a path to regular access to health care for working adults,” the ad says.

Hood and Cerise said the inclusion of up to 400,000 uninsured people in the government-run insurance program would improve people’s health, be a good financial deal for the state and help Louisiana’s health care delivery system.

Jindal opposes the expansion, calling it an improper growth of a costly and inefficient government entitlement program that weakens the private insurance market. The federal government would fully cover the costs of new patients’ health care during the first couple years, then its share would gradually decline to 90 percent.

“Ultimately the program as it exists today is unsustainable,” Jindal’s health secretary Bruce Greenstein told lawmakers this week. He added, “There is still a long way to go to make the program meet the needs of 21st century health care.”

He said the Medicaid expansion would be too expensive for Louisiana, and he said the Obama administration should offer more flexibility to the states with the dollars to offer care through private companies.

The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates it would cost Louisiana $1.2 billion over 10 years to cover the additional low-income residents in exchange for $15.8 billion in federal funding.

Hood and Cerise said Louisiana taxpayers will pay for the federal Medicaid expansion whether the state’s citizens benefit from participation or not.

“If Louisiana refuses to participate, our share of the money that pays for this program will be used to support the Medicaid expansion in other states and our low-income residents will continue to lack access to care,” their ad says.

Hood took over as DHH secretary after Jindal left the job in the Foster administration.

Cerise most recently was ousted from overseeing the LSU public hospital system after clashing with the Jindal administration over its cuts to the university-run network of hospitals and clinics that care for the poor and uninsured.

The newspaper ad was paid by Forward Louisiana, an arm of Louisiana Progress Action, a Baton Rouge-based, progressive-leaning group that supports the Medicaid expansion.

Comments

1) Comment by phil - 17/03/2013

Increasing Medicaid just is not the answer. Louisiana already has about 25 percent of its population on Medicaid. This is a program that the USA cannot afford to support. Perhaps LA will receive more money than LA taxpayers are paying into the federal government since LA has so much poverty. However someone pays, and how do the other states feel about sending their tax dollars to LA? I think everyone in the USA should be able to receive medical care, but Obamacare as it is written is too expensive for taxpayers and is not the right solution. We are getting a law that forces one group to pay for something and to also finance a service that another group will get for free. It just is NOT the American way. Besides we will still be stuck with a 2 tier system of health insurance in the USA - one run by private companies and one run by the federal government. It just does not make any good sense to continue down this path.

2) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

Obamacare is reducing health care for the poor. The most recent lay offs and reductions in services in state hospitals were due reduced to a provision in Obamacare: reductions in DSH payments to hospitals serving the poor by $15 billion. Each year additional DSH cuts will be made, until 2020. Because $716 billion in Medicare revenue is being shifted to Obamacare there will be reductions in hospital and doctors services. Some planned hospital were not built because of Obamacare rules. Many hospitals are reducing staff and services to help pay for the cost of complying with Obamacare mandates.

3) Comment by tradewinns - 16/03/2013

i'd suggest that the state of la. make known the fact that la. is getting out of the welfare business and which neighboring states support wasting money on the poor so the poor will know in which direction to travel,

4) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

"The cost of complying with 21 of the new taxes is estimated at 127.6 million hours. This loss in productivity will hit small and large businesses, medical providers and individuals. •An additional 0.9 percent payroll tax on wages and self-employment and a new 3.8 percent tax on dividends, capital gains and other investment income will cost an estimated $317.7 billion. •A “Cadillac tax” on high-cost plans will cost an estimated $111 billion. •The employer mandate will cost an estimated $106 billion and the individual mandate will cost an estimated $55 billion. •A new annual tax on health insurance providers will cost an estimated $101.7 billion and an annual tax on drug manufacturers and importers will cost an estimated $34.2 billion. •A 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturers and importers will cost an estimated $29.1 billion. •Limiting flexible spending accounts in cafeteria plans will cost an estimated $24 billion. •Raising the adjusted gross income floor on medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent will cost an estimated $18.7 billion. •Increasing the penalty for nonqualified health savings accounts (HSA) distributions will cost an estimated $4.5 billion. •Limiting HSAs from purchasing over-the-counter medicines will cost an estimated $4 billion. Another 10 taxes bring the total to $1.058 trillion."-- Andrew Lundeen

5) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

"Employer Mandate At least 7,386 full-time jobs turned part-time: “State Grapples with Insurance Rules for Part-Time Workers.” 400 full-time jobs turned part-time: “Health Care Law Brings Double Dose of Trouble for CCAC Part-Time Profs.” 300 full-time jobs turned part-time: “Wendy’s Franchisee Slashes Employee Hours to Sidestep Obamacare.” Obamacare’s employer mandate forces all employers with more than 50 full-time employees, defined as those who work at least 30 hours per week, to provide health insurance for employees or pay a $2,000 penalty for each employee after the first 30 workers. This creates an incentive for businesses to avoid both the penalty and cost of coverage by hiring part-time employees instead of full-time employees, since businesses will not be penalized for failing to provide health insurance to part-time employees. This affects a wide range of American workers, from restaurant employees and college adjunct professors to state government workers."--Alyene Senger

6) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

"If Obamacare’s rates remain law, the Medicare trustees predict, “the lower Medicare payment rates would result in negative total facility margins for an estimated 15 percent of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies by 2019, and this percentage would reach roughly 25 percent in 2030 and 40 percent by 2050.” The payment cuts are simply not sustainable."--Alyene Senger

7) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

"Medicare Payment Cuts 950 jobs lost: “Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Reengineers Cost Structure, Eliminate Positions.” Up to 400 jobs lost: “Orlando Health to Cut Record Number of Jobs to Save Money.” 52 Jobs lost: “Delaware Hospice Lays Off 52 Workers amid Federal Changes.” 58 jobs lost: “Hospital Layoffs and the Affordable Hea[l]th Care Act.” Obamacare reduces Medicare spending by $716 billion from 2013 to 2022, with a majority of the payment reductions hitting Medicare Part A providers, which includes hospitals, hospices, skilled nursing facilities, and nursing homes. As these providers are trying to do more with less federal reimbursement, they are laying off their employees to cut down costs.--Alyene Senger

8) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

"Medical Device Tax 1,000 jobs lost: “Stryker Corporation Confirms Obamacare Layoffs.” 275 jobs lost: “Medical Device Tax Blamed for Welch Allyn Layoffs.” 100 jobs lost: “Latest Obamacare Casualty: 100 Workers at Smith and Nephew.” The 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of medical devices, one of the 18 tax hikes in Obamacare, is estimated to cost the industry over $29 billion between 2013 and 2022. Many employers in the industry are compensating for the tax hike by reducing their labor costs."--Alyene Senger, That new Medicaid card will cost the country many jobs.