Billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts, which were included in the harmful Republican megabill, could threaten public school budgets and reduce health care access for students. The Louisiana Department of Health uses federal Medicaid dollars to reimburse schools for medical services they provide to students and related personnel expenses. But schools are facing grueling decisions as those dollars are eliminated. Verite News’ Safura Syed reports:
Jessie Mandle, the national program director of the Healthy Schools Campaign, said some schools may have to make difficult budget decisions — weighing cuts to non-medical staffing, building maintenance or school programming — in order to pay for those services. “I want to make sure that school districts understand that these tough decisions that they’re making now are directly connected … to the provisions of this bill, that they are not making these devastating choices in isolation, that they are making these decisions because of the provisions of this bill,” Mandle said.
Louisiana public schools received approximately $85 million in Medicaid reimbursements during the 2023-2024 school year.
You’re going to need a bigger boat
The largest liquified natural gas exporter in the U.S is seeking a $140 million tax break from the Internal Revenue Service for the fuel the company uses to power its shipping vessels. But as the Louisiana Illuminator’s Greg LaRose explains, government and environmental watchdogs say it’s clear Cheniere Energy doesn’t qualify for the incentive:
Their arguably more legitimate beef with Cheniere’s tax credit request is that they feel it stretches well past the original intent of the 2005 measure. As written, the incentive applied to fuel used “in a motor vehicle or motorboat.” That an LNG tanker, which can equal the size of a military aircraft carrier, would be considered a motorboat is preposterous, Cheniere’s detractors say. They point to federal shipping regulations that define a motorboat as no longer than 65 feet. The typical LNG tanker is nearly 1,000 feet long.
Overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans
The federal government has issued massive overpayments in recent years to a fast-growing alternative to traditional Medicare plans. The plans in question are part of Medicare Advantage, a highly lucrative market for insurers that now enroll more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries in Louisiana. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Mark Ballard reports on how the program works:
In Medicare Advantage, private insurers pay providers for services rendered and the government pays the companies per patient, based on that person’s health status. Higher-risk patients net the company more money. The insurers themselves are responsible for diagnosing how sick the patients are. Critics allege the private insurers are upcoding those diagnoses, including possible, perhaps likely, ailments to show the patient’s condition as more severe and thus require higher payments.
Sen. Bill Cassidy is trying to reign in the overpayments by cracking down on “upcoding,” which could generate massive savings for the federal government:
Limiting upcoding would save $124 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which calculates the financial impacts of legislation. Some experts espouse figures up to $270 billion, maybe more. That’s a large part of the roughly $470 billion the federal government paid private Medicare Advantage insurers last year, according to KFF, a San Francisco-based nonpartisan organization that researches health policy.
Why Louisiana has fewer births
The number of births in Louisiana decreased from 63,000 in 2013 to just over 52,000 in 2024 – a 17% decrease. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Emily Woodruff explains how the state’s birth decline is due to a loss of women in their reproductive years:
“There would be two reasons: some moved out of state, and some aged out of that age bracket,” said Allison Plyer, chief demographer at The Data Center in New Orleans. From 2013 to 2023, the number of women aged 15 to 44 in Louisiana fell by more than 29,000, a 3.1% decline. Nationally, that group grew by nearly 5%. … It’s hard to say exactly who is leaving Louisiana or why, Plyer said, but one reason consistently stands out. “The number one reason people move long distances is for job opportunities,” she said.
Number of the Day
357,000 – Estimated number of Louisianans who will lose their health coverage and become uninsured by 2034, under provisions included in the harmful Republican megabill. (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)