Over the last several years, Louisiana’s Medicaid program has grown by leaps and bounds, expanding the program to more than 400,000 able-bodied adults over the last two years and fundamentally hurting the individuals Medicaid was primarily designed to help. Reforming Medicaid should involve re-orienting the program’s focus on the vulnerable populations for which it was originally designed, while modernizing the delivery of care in ways that can lower costs and improve health outcomes for patients.
If there is one industry that suffers from overregulation, it’s the health care industry. Anyone seeking medical care has faced the mounds of confusing paperwork which adds to the already high cost of care. Unfortunately, there is a move afoot that would increase the health care red tape, leading to higher costs for patients. This...
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Louisiana, the response by the governor and the various boards of the state has been swift and far-reaching. The Pelican Institute appreciates their efforts to remove red tape in areas like telemedicine and delaying tax payments for hard-working Louisianans, which is critical in a time of economic crisis...
Some in Louisiana want to claim that the state’s expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied adults represents a success story. The facts indicate otherwise. Medicaid expansion has resulted in large costs to taxpayers, significant amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse, and tens of thousands of able-bodied adults shifting from private coverage to government insurance—even while individuals...
In recent months, enrollment in Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion has declined, as the state finally removed tens of thousands of ineligible individuals from the rolls. But according to researchers at LSU, enrollment in expansion will soon climb higher, with an estimated 41,575 individuals joining Medicaid expansion in 2019 alone. Those estimates came in a report the...
by Chris Jacobs The release by the Louisiana Department of Health late Friday afternoon of an updated study showing the jobs benefit of Medicaid expansion concedes an important point pointed out by the Pelican Institute over 16 months ago. This year’s study admits that the 2018 paper over-counted the federal dollars and jobs associated with...
The Pelican Institute’s Senior Fellow Chris Jacobs authored a column featured in the Wall Street Journal highlighting the misconceptions behind the “success” of Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion program. While some leaders tout the expansion as a win for Louisiana, the facts show that it continues to cost Louisiana’s hard-working taxpayers jobs and opportunity. Jacobs says: “If...
Please click to view the full detailed solutions paper from the Pelican Institute for Public Policy (Pelican Institute). Today, in its newest deep dive paper, the Pelican Institute revealed that since implementing Medicaid expansion, tens of thousands of Louisianans have dropped private health insurance coverage to enroll in Medicaid, costing the program more than $145 million...
That the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently designated Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion to the able-bodied as “high risk,” following the release of a “deeply troubling” report by the state’s Legislative Auditor late last year, should surprise no one. As the Pelican Institute first reported last year, enrollment in Medicaid expansion has exploded,...
Why expanding Louisiana’s program to able-bodied adults hurts the economy By Chris Jacobs, Senior Fellow Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion helped far too few people obtain good, affordable health coverage and actually cost Louisiana desperately needed jobs. But a taxpayer-funded report released by the Louisiana Department of Health on April 10 claims that the state’s Medicaid expansion...
As the Louisiana legislature ponders ways to resolve the state’s “fiscal cliff,” policy-makers should remember the massive costs associated with the state’s embrace of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. Enrollment in this expansion to the able bodied (i.e., working-age adults without dependent children) has exploded, raising Medicaid expenses. Moreover, the expansion discourages work, and disadvantages the most...
Perhaps reevaluating the role government regulations play in driving up the cost of health care is a better approach than passing new, anti-free market legislation.
Everyone knows that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or “Obamacare,” has not worked out as originally planned. State officials, however, still face considerable pressure to accept Medicaid expansion. Louisiana’s leaders must continue to resist the plan and come up with an alternative.