Louisiana’s Medicaid program is more than a critical source of health care for families, pregnant women, children and people with disabilities. It also plays a key role in creating jobs and building a strong economy, according to a new report by the Louisiana Budget Project.
The report looks at Medicaid’s impact on Louisiana’s economy and is the second of two papers highlighting the program’s vital role in protecting the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Medicaid pays for 20 percent of all health care in Louisiana, and supports an estimated 57,000 jobs—from doctors, nurses and pharmacists to home-health aides and ambulance drivers. Health care is the largest single source of jobs for the state, employing 286,000 Louisianans in 2010.
“Cutting Medicaid would be terrible policy for Louisiana,” said Louisiana Budget Project Director Jan Moller. “It would harm Louisiana’s most vulnerable citizens and put the brakes on economic growth at the worst possible time.”
Read the full report and press release and for more information on LBP, visit www.labudget.org.
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