Proposal would kill much-needed Medicaid fix for Louisiana

[Louisiana1976]

As the U.S. Senate moves toward a vote on health care insurance regulation, a Louisiana-born fracas acts as a fly in the ointment, unrelated to the guts of the massive bill but potent enough to inflame some predictable political rivalries and fashion new ones, at least temporarily.

At issue are competing amendments: Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's addendum that would steer additional federal Medicaid aid to Louisiana and a counter from Oklahoma's Republican Sen. Tom Coburn to strip that language.

Figuring somewhere in the cross hairs: Louisiana Republicans Sen. David Vitter and Gov. Bobby Jindal. Jindal, a rising GOP star, is the original advocate for a Louisiana Medicaid fix, having asked Landrieu and the rest of the delegation more than a year ago to get more Medicaid money out of the federal till.

Louisiana's argument is that the long-standing formula that determines federal Medicaid payments punishes the Pelican State because of a spike in post-Katrina personal income, which under the federal calculations includes Road Home and insurance payments. Jindal, Landrieu and Vitter all agree the figures distort Louisiana's financial capabilities and unfairly reduces the flow of federal money to the state.

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