More than a billion dollars in Medicaid funding intended to improve health outcomes for low-income people was instead used on administrative expenses and other costs because of a lack of oversight from the Louisiana Health Department. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Stephanie Riegel reports:
“The sole focus of this program was to improve the health outcomes of Medicaid beneficiaries but that’s not happening,” Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack said in an interview Monday. “The funds are not making it all the way down to the hospitals that are doing the work.” The issues identified with the Managed Care Incentive Program, or MCIP, which was designed to increase Medicaid patients’ access to preventive medical care, improve management of chronic diseases and offer other services, underscored the challenges Louisiana faces as it tries to improve the health of its lowest-income residents.
The auditor noted how more than $1.5 billion went to tasks such as filing annual reports and holding an award ceremony. Riegel writes that auditors zeroed in on Ochsner Health:
The report, while critical of the program overall and LDH’s lack of oversight, specifically cited problems with the network of Ochsner hospitals and affiliates, called the Quality Outcome and Improvement Network, and raised questions about a lack of documentation relating to $46 million in program money it spent on “administrative and management” and other costs. The audit suggested that the network’s failure to account for those funds could violate the state constitution.
Fortified roofing program leads to insurance savings
Another report from the Legislative Auditor found that fortified roofs are helping to bring down the high cost of homeowner’s insurance in Louisiana. The median homeowner who got a new roof through the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program saved $1,250 on their annual homeowner’s insurance costs, a 22% discount. But as The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Sam Karlin reports, there’s still room for improvement:
Still, the report found that Louisiana is behind the curve in widespread adoption of fortified roofs, and adding more of them could make the state more attractive to the reinsurance market and lower insurance costs. … And the program continues to be a challenge for many low-income households, given that homeowners must come out of pocket for typically thousands of dollars and meet other requirements.
Karlin reports on possible actions on the state’s fortified roofing program for the upcoming legislative session:
Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple is expected to advocate for a permanent funding source for the program during the legislative session this spring. And Gov. Jeff Landry has indicated an openness to requiring insurers to provide certain discounts to people who put the roofs on, something Temple, a fellow Republican, has opposed.
Efforts to mandate minimum discounts for homeowners that install a fortified roof failed during last year’s legislative session.
GOP targets free school meals to pay for tax cuts
There’s a broad effort by congressional Republicans to cut safety-net programs, which benefit people with low-incomes, to partially offset the $4.5 trillion cost of tax cuts for the wealthy and large, profitable corporations. One proposal on the table is to raise the bar that public schools have to meet before they can offer free food to all students through the Community Eligibility Provision. A new report from the Urban Institute lays out how many children would be affected if schools had to have a higher percentage of low-income students before they could be eligible:
If the House Republicans were to increase the threshold from 25 percent to 60 percent, universal free meals would end in at least 21,000 schools serving approximately 11.4 million students. The change would also result in the loss of CEP access for at least 18,535 schools serving 9.4 million students that were eligible but not participating in CEP. Because participation in CEP varies widely across states, the proposed changes to eligibility rules will play out differently across the country.
In Louisiana, 46.1% of students would lose access to free meals. A new fact sheet from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has information on how individual schools and districts in the state would be affected.
Cutting support for disabled children
The Supplemental Security Income program provides monthly payments to millions of American adults and children with disabilities – a critical financial support for families that struggle to make ends meet. Kathleen Romig of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains how proposed cuts to the program would affect disabled children and the families:
Families caring for children with disabilities — especially multiple children with disabilities — often face higher health care costs, more demands on their time, and more financial insecurity than other families. Roughly one-third of families with children receiving SSI already live below the poverty line; SSI benefits help them afford basic needs like food and housing as well as disability-related expenses like therapies or home modifications, which health insurance often doesn’t cover. The proposed cuts would make it even harder for these families to make ends meet.
Number of the Day
$8,873 – Average annual cost of infant care in Louisiana. For comparison, the annual cost of housing in the state is $13,000. Source: Economic Policy Institute)