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Over the past 18 months, the Louisiana Department of Health, under the leadership of the new administration, has taken several actions to improve its laboratory claims payment system.
As of June 26, 2017, more than 433,000 Louisiana residents who lacked coverage for essential health care services a year ago, now have coverage because of Medicaid expansion. More important than having coverage is using the coverage to visit a primary care doctor for an annual check-up, having prescription coverage and being covered for wellness visits and screenings.
If Medicaid expansion ends, the uninsured will go back to hospital emergency rooms for their health care. Cassidy said that means society pays the rest of the bill for the uninsured because the hospitals will shift the remaining costs to the privately insured who end up paying higher health care premiums.
Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that the Trump Administration’s Office of Inspector General Department of Health and Human Services audit has found that Louisiana’s Medicaid program has complied with the federal fraud reporting requirements, has the proper procedures in place to report fraud and is not in need of any recommendations for improvement. Louisiana is one of only four states to pass this audit since 2014.
Some Louisiana residents who are employed but currently receive their health care coverage under Medicaid may now be eligible for a program that will allow them to afford coverage from their employer.
Perhaps it sounds a little odd, but people both in Louisiana and elsewhere are sometimes fuzzy about the differences between the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, expanded Medicaid, and “Obamacare” — the politically charged term that involves the whole of the parts.
About three fourths of residents (72 percent) approve of expansion. Approval of the move extends across a number of demographic and political groups. Democrats (91 percent) and independents (73 percent) approve of Medicaid expansion. While Republicans are less enthusiastic about the policy, they lean toward approval (51 percent approval versus 45 percent disapproval).
More than 405,000 Louisiana residents who were uninsured a year ago now have coverage because of the Medicaid expansion offered under the Affordable Care Act. That is even more than the state predicted would sign up.
The Louisiana Department of Health will host a series of town hall meetings with clinical providers from across the state to solicit input on the selection of Medicaid performance quality measures.
Numerous studies show that access to mental health, substance use and other health care services helps former offenders better integrate back into their communities, lessening the likelihood of these individuals committing future crimes. Now, because of Medicaid expansion, the Louisiana Department of Health and the Department of Corrections are helping incarcerated individuals enroll into Medicaid, with coverage beginning once the individual’s sentence is complete and they transition out of prison.
Medicaid Expansion enrollment in Louisiana reaches 400,635 new members enrolled, and the most recent Gallup report shows the uninsured rate in Louisiana has decreased by nearly half to 12.5 percent in 2016, down from 21.7 percent in 2013. Gallop cites expansion as the key contributor for the reduction in the uninsured rate.
If the goal of health policy is to keep people healthier, there is a lot of room for debate over how to go about that process. If the measurement is insurance coverage, so that medical care is more easily available and affordable, "Obamacare" is a big success.