Cassidy: Hospital will divert uninsured funds

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 20, 2008 - Page: 4A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A state senator said Thursday he fears that a new LSU medical center and teaching hospital in New Orleans will require more money for uninsured care being diverted from other areas of the state.

Already there is disparity in the way government funds care for the uninsured are distributed, and the new hospital project could aggravate that, said state Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge.

Looking at the financial projections, it is clear that more money will be required to pay off the borrowing needed to build the proposed $1.2 billion project, Cassidy said during a joint legislative committee hearing on the New Orleans project.

State health Secretary Alan Levine said the potential is there.

Levine said a new financial analysis reduces the uninsured care dollars that would be required from $316 million to $189 million.

“We tried to mitigate what I think would have been a terrible fight over those dollars,” Levine said.

But he also said the new analysis shows the need for additional state financial support.

If revenue bonds are sought to finance the hospital, Levine said those backing the borrowing are going to want access to the state’s uninsured care dollars.

Cassidy has legislation that would change the allocation of what is called disproportionate care dollars — those available for uninsured care. He said the Baton Rouge area and other regions should get more funding because of the volume of patients served.

The New Orleans area has 22 percent of the state’s uninsured but gets 43 percent of the money, Cassidy said. And, he said, there is a higher cost for delivering that care.

“It seems like we are preserving inequities with this business plan,” Cassidy said.

“Yes, sir, it is,” Levine replied. “There’s no science how the dollars end up where they are today.”

The committee also heard from executives of the Historical Foundation of Louisiana who are part of an effort to preserve the old Big Charity, which has been shuttered since Hurricane Katrina.