Levine: Health bill hurts Medicaid

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Oct 7, 2009 - Page: 1A

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WASHINGTON — Louisiana’s top health official is criticizing a provision in the U.S. Senate’s health-care bill that would give four states, including that of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, full federal funding for increases in the Medicaid rolls.

Louisiana would have to pay a 5 percent match for any new federal money for expansion of Medicaid amounting to $614 million over five years, said Alan Levine, secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals.

“The cost to Nevada?” Levine said. “Zero.”

The news of the provision comes at a time when Louisiana is struggling to get control of its Medicaid budget.

Medicaid is the government insurance program for the poor and covers about one-fourth of Louisiana’s population. State and federal governments share the $6.5 billion cost.

The state, which has the second highest poverty rate in the nation, faces a $1.5 billion drop in federal government’s portion of the funding over the next two years, Levine said.

Like many other states facing tough financial times, Louisiana is wary of taking on more Medicaid burden from the federal government, he said.

“It does not help Louisiana and it’s totally unfair that Louisiana would be asked to subsidize Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan when we are facing the largest decrease in the nation,” Levine said.

Reid, a Democrat, is the highest-ranking member of the Senate. Without the language, his state would receive 87 percent of its funding from the federal government under the formula.

Nevada and the other states deserve special attention because they were the hardest hit by the recession, Reid said. He initially squawked at the 87 percent share, which was changed by the Senate Finance Committee drafting the bill.

“The people of Nevada are hurting,” Reid said. “I make absolutely no apologies, none, for helping people in my state and our nation who are hurting most.”

The Senate version of the health-care bill would expand the Medicaid rolls across the nation to families of four with income levels of $29,000. That would mean a boost in Louisiana of at least 260,000 people, Levine said.

Currently, the state receives 80 percent of its Medicaid costs from the federal government. But that percentage is expected to drop next year to 63 percent due to a rise in income levels in Louisiana, which state officials contend have been artificially buoyed by Hurricane Katrina work.