Medical funds at risk

• By MICHELLE MILHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: May 19, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Health-care services for the elderly and the developmentally disabled could fall prey to the budget ax as legislators try to rein in the growth of state government.

The state Senate starts reviewing the state’s spending this morning. The state House of Representatives approved the budget last week.

Lawmakers recently recommended $131 million in cuts to the Medicaid program that delivers health care to the poor. The $131 million is a mix of state and federal dollars.

State Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said Friday he is trying to decide where he would make the suggested cuts in payments to private doctors, nursing homes and hospitals.

“What will drive our policy decision is a very somber recognition that there are people behind these numbers,” he said.
The budget for the state spending year that begins July 1 still is working its way through the legislative process.

In response to a resounding drumbeat for fiscal conservatism, a House committee trimmed $120 million in state funds from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s $30 billion state operating budget.

The reductions in payments to providers totaled $52 million in state dollars. Because that money is put up as a match to attract federal dollars, the cuts actually amount to $131 million.

Similar cuts were made to education, prompting a push on the House floor Thursday to restore funding for a literacy program, alternative schools, pre-kindergarten and leadership skills.

“Public education is our first priority,” state Rep. Karen Peterson, D-New Orleans, said in her failed attempt to restore the education funding.

Few impassioned pleas were made for more health-care dollars despite state Rep. Jim Fannin’s acknowledgement that legislators probably were “getting a lot of calls from providers.”

Fannin, D-Jonesboro, is the sponsor of House Bill 1, the budget legislation.

He told lawmakers during debate on HB1 that DHH is not spending all of the money it gets for private provider payments.
In the current budget year, there is a $183 million in unspent funds for providers, Fannin said.
The previous year, he said, $218 million was left unspent.

“Why do we want to continue to park more money there,” Fannin said.