What’s the best that could happen with state healthcare in the current budget crisis?
If all of Governor Edwards' proposals in front of the Legislature this special session pass, the Department of Health and Hospitals will see $64 million of State General Fund reductions.
DHH Undersecretary Jeff Reynolds told the House Appropriations Committee the total hit to DHH would be $169 million, with the federal match added in.
That plan includes reducing payments to the public-private hospital partners. In the worst case scenario, if the Legislature cannot find a way to raise revenue, those payments will be cut even further. Reynolds says it’s either that "or I start cutting waiver services for developmentally disabled individuals and the elderly."
Reynolds acknowledges that cuts to the partner hospitals may cause some to walk away from the Cooperative Endeavor Agreements. "Some of them may close down," he says, "but at least the clients have the ability to go to the next hospital or the next town that has a hospital. If I start cutting waivers, then you’re talking about putting [developmentally disabled] clients, in essence, putting them out on the street to die.”
He expects hospitals could ration care to the uninsured and Medicaid clients to absorb the cuts. "If you went in and said 'I need to see a doctor,'" Reynolds explained, "they'd give you an appointment six months from now."
Yet the whole budget shortfall is putting the Cooperative Endeavor Agreements with the private partners in jeopardy. The hospitals have sixty days to opt out if the state doesn’t pay in full.
Rayville Representative Bubba Chaney asked the CEO of the Baton Rouge partner, Our Lady of the Lake, where things stand now. “Is your organization in active serious discussions right now on the 60-day opt-out of the CEA?” he asked.
“We cannot have our organization subsidize the responsibility of the state of Louisiana. If we do have to terminate the agreement, we will terminate the agreement,” said Scott Wester.