Medicaid Cuts – Louisiana

Posted on July 6, 2012 by townsend

• La. Medicaid funding unexpectedly slashed by $859M, Associated Press, July 2, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Louisiana’s health department was working Monday to strip $859 million from the state’s Medicaid program for the poor and uninsured, cutting 11 percent of the funding for health services after Congress unexpectedly slashed the state’s Medicaid payment. The cuts to the budget came as a surprise to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration and lawmakers, cropping up last week when Congress reduced Medicaid funding to the state in the just-passed federal transportation bill as part of Republicans’ efforts to offset some of the expense in highway funding. Congressional action blows a hole in the health care budget crafted by the administration and lawmakers for the fiscal year that began Sunday. On the chopping block are charity hospitals, hospice care and Medicaid providers who thought they had escaped deep reductions in the 2012-13 budget…”
• New tune: Jindal team calls $859 million Medicaid cut ‘doable’, By Melinda Deslatte (AP), Alexandria Town Talk: “When a bloc of conservative Louisiana lawmakers pushed to strip money from the state health department, the Jindal administration outcry was loud, suggesting the cuts could devastate health-care services. A month later, the $859 million in budget cuts hitting the Medicaid program from new congressional action are far larger, but Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration has been muted in talking about the ramifications…”