In a letter to the Advocate, LBP policy analyst Steve Spires explains that much of the “flexibility” that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration is seeking as a condition of accepting the expansion – and the $15.8 billion in federal support that comes with it – already exists under current law. Spires also notes that the expansion of Medicaid would be good news for Louisiana’s Bayou Health initiative, which would gain thousands of new enrollees if the health insurance program for the poor would grow to cover 400,000 low-income adults starting next January. “Should Louisiana accept Medicaid expansion and the $15.8 billion in federal support over 10 years that comes with it,” Spires writes, “the state would essentially be expanding its own Bayou Health initiative.”
You can read Spires’ letter to the editor here.
The Louisiana Budget Project is part of a growing list of 334 organizations and individuals that are urging Governor Jindal to accept billions of dollars in new federal support for Medicaid that can be used to expand health coverage to as many as 400,000 Louisianans beginning in 2014. You can read and join this petition here.
