Demand for Medicaid expected to increase (Louisiana)(Bush stalls)

[mom cat]

nola.com
Demand for Medicaid expected to increase
Without federal aid, cuts may be needed

Lawmakers impatient with pace of recovery


By Jan Moller
Capital Bureau
Oct 11, 2005

BATON ROUGE – An additional 60,000 people could become eligible for Louisiana’s Medicaid program in the next six months as residents deal with the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, further straining the state’s health-care budget, Health and Hospitals Secretary Fred Cerise said Monday.

Testifying before a special House-Senate committee looking into the storms' impact on state government, Cerise said the Medicaid program could face a shortfall of more than $800 million in the current budget. Unless the federal government provides some relief, the state could be forced to cut the program by up to 40 percent to keep it in balance, Cerise said.

The $5.3 billion Medicaid program finances health care for nearly 1 million indigent and disabled people in Louisiana, with the cost shared between the state and federal government. Because the program is open to anyone who qualifies by income or disability, enrollment is expected to jump sharply as hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs due to the storm.


A bill proposed by U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Max Baucus, D-Mont., calls for the federal government to pay 100 percent of the Medicaid costs for hurricane evacuees. But that legislation is bottled up on Capitol Hill. "That bill is not moving, and every day we wait the problem gets worse," Cerise said.

More:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_11.html#086460

[sarcasmo]

1. This shows the pure EVIL of MR Danger.

[texpatriot2004]

2. Indeed. Pro-Torture and Anti-Medicaid. He is EVIL.n.t

[mom cat]

3. The Dems should be United and unrelenting in their outcry. i am

straining to hear them. Altough there have been some notable exceptions, the Dem support for poor people has been underwhelming. The grossly unpopular administration is getting away with murder, pushing their right wing agenda for all that it is worth. Meanwhile a lot of our yellow dogs are rolling over.

[gulfcoastliberal]

4. Agree! The country could be nuked and there wouldn't be any dem outrage!

WHERE ARE THE DEMS?!

<crickets>

[mom cat]

5. The puppet master has two puppets...One in the right hand and one in

the left. both have their own audiences and think that the other puppet is the problem. Our puppet is afraid to bite the hand that pulls its strings.

[gulfcoastliberal]

6. Hit the nail on the head. Sadly.

We are the corporate state of Amerika.

[ninkasi]

7. Since it's unlikely that any of the people

who will die due to government neglect are able to contribute to either side's election campaigns, they are not a high priority. Our Dem should be shouting and screaming about this. A few might be, but you have to really strain to hear their voices.