Medicaid

For all the debate about whether states should expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, it’s unclear whether doing so actually makes people healthier. Initial research into the impact of expansion is at the same time exhaustive and scarce, as well as seemingly contradictory in some cases.

Laypeople who come to the aid of an individual who has overdosed on heroin, morphine or other opioid drugs can now receive the lifesaving medication naloxone without having to get a direct prescription from a doctor.

Today, I’m hearing different stories. I recently spoke to a middle-aged mother who was diagnosed with cancer only because she now has coverage. Without coverage, her tumor may have been picked up too late to cure and her daughters would have grown up without their mother. I heard from a man in the Lafayette area who has sickle cell anemia. Because he now has a primary care doctor, he no longer has to go to the local emergency room several times a month for care.

The Louisiana Medicaid program is adapting its coverage guidelines for cervical cancer screening to conform to American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) guidelines.

Matthew Guidry of Opelousas, Louisiana, is one of thousands of Louisiana residents who is now getting care because of Medicaid expansion. Guidry, who has lived with sickle cell anemia almost all of his life, looked to the local emergency room for care. Although he could get relief for his pain there, it was much more difficult to find someone to treat his ongoing vision problems.

Up to 80 percent of heroin users reported beginning their addiction by misusing prescription opioids. In its continuing efforts to address the opioid epidemic in Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Health is hosting a Lunch & Learn where medical, pharmacy and behavioral health experts will discuss the current status of prescription opioid use and abuse in Louisiana.

Jeff Sadow’s recent column, “Medicaid Expansion Busting the Budget” is misleading.

RFI for Provider-Led Accountable Care Organizations

The Louisiana Department of Health and the state's Medicaid program are in one of the strongest financial positions in six years, after the state opted to expand Medicaid through the federal Affordable Care Act, a new report shows.