Official Louisiana State Websites use .la.gov 
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS LDH is moving forward with a plan to distribute food benefits on EBT cards tomorrow. If the USDA, who administers the SNAP program, is prepared and ready to move money into states’ accounts this evening, we will use federal dollars to fund SNAP recipients’ accounts. If they are not ready, LDH will proceed with our state-funded program to provide food assistance to the elderly, the disabled, and households with children through their existing EBT cards.
LDH News
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Congress shouldn't snatch Medicaid expansion away: Editorial
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.
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Louisiana Department of Health Seeks Provider Input on Medicaid Quality Measures
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.
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Department of Health and Department of Corrections team up to provide health care coverage for newly released offenders
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.
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Medicaid Expansion enrollment increases to 400,635; uninsured rate drops
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.
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Our Views: Keep a focus on insurance coverage
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.
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Louisiana Health Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee responds to Sen. Kennedy on Medicaid
Medicaid expansion is covering hundreds of thousands more working adults and ensuring they have access to primary care. In addition, Medicaid Expansion is bringing in more federal tax dollars to our state and saving Louisiana taxpayers $184 million.
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In Case You Missed It: There is ample evidence that Medicaid expansion gives patients better care through increased access to primary care
At the national level, where there is a move to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and in Louisiana where some officials want to end Medicaid expansion, there are critics who use the argument that Medicaid patients get worse care than those without coverage.
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Has Expanding Medicaid Made People Healthier?
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.
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Letter from state health secretary Rebekah Gee: Medicaid expansion benefits Louisianians in times of need
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.
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Louisiana Medicaid updates cervical cancer screening coverage to comply with American Congress of Obstetricians recommendations
The Louisiana Medicaid program is adapting its coverage guidelines for cervical cancer screening to conform to American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) guidelines.
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Hospital Payment Study
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More than 8,600 Louisiana Residents Getting Care for Chronic Conditions due to Medicaid Expansion
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.