Medicaid

Joshua Guillory, 32, dropped his Obamacare health plan in January after losing his oil plant job. He couldn't afford the premiums any longer.

Louisiana's Medicaid expansion marked a major breakthrough for Obamacare as the first state in the Gulf South to opt into the program, a move only possible after Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards won the governor's mansion last year.

The Department of Health has updated new enrollment figures for Healthy Louisiana, the State’s expanded Medicaid program, with total enrollment of new adult members having reached 208,879 adults as of June 15.

Ernest Burrell poured eight orange, translucent plastic bottles from a bag onto the floor of his Central City apartment. They clattered on the chipped, ruddy concrete. Unpronounceable labels — Spironolactone, Amlodipine, Indapamide and more — were typed in faint serif font above handwritten notes on which pills to take once a day, twice a day, three times a day.

By Harris Meyer I June 1, 2016 - One of the nation's poorest, least-insured and unhealthiest states is launching a major effort Wednesday to expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income residents. Hospitals and other healthcare providers there say it can't happen soon enough.

The Department of Health has announced that the total new enrollment for expanded Medicaid, Healthy Louisiana, reached 197,026 adults as of June 8.

Governor John Bel Edwards thanked CMS for expediting the approval of the state plan amendment, the formal request to make a change to the Medicaid program, to allow for the automatic enrollment of SNAP enrollees, as it will allow more people to get health care coverage as soon as July 1.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell applauded tomorrow’s launch of Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion program under the Affordable Care Act. Beginning June 1, Louisiana residents with a household income below 138 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible to obtain health coverage through the state’s Medicaid program. As of tomorrow, 31 states and the District of Columbia will have expanded Medicaid. With Louisiana, we have reached a “tipping point:” More than half of the uninsured who could gain coverage from Medicaid expansion live in states that have expanded this program.

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BATON ROUGE – Today, Governor John Bel Edwards and Dr. Rebekah Gee, Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, began a statewide tour to discuss Medicaid expansion in Louisiana. Gov. Edwards and Dr. Gee also announced that the Bayou Health program is being renamed Healthy Louisiana. The new program seeks to improve the health of those who are currently covered by Medicaid and those who will become eligible for coverage under Medicaid expansion. Gov. Edwards and Dr. Gee also unveiled a new website, www.healthy.la.gov, for enrollment information for qualified individuals.