Post by Logan on Apr 8, 2016 4:41:42 GMT -6
Advocates for poor people and Medicaid expansion hammered Louisiana lawmakers Thursday (April 7) for what they said was legislation aimed at limiting access to health insurance and charging co-pays. The testimony, which was at times unusually harsh, came during a House Health and Welfare Committee meeting that Chairman Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, said was the most difficult held this legislative session.
After 2 1/2 hours of work, the committee succeeded in passing no legislation. Several lawmakers killed their own bills rather than bring them up for a vote.
Almost all of the bills were filed in response to Gov. John Bel Edwards' decision to expand Medicaid eligibility to as many as 450,000 people. And all of the bills sought to tinker with the state's $8.3 billion Medicaid program.
The most forceful testimony came during testimony on House Concurrent Resolution 4 by Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Baton Rouge. The measure was pitched as a way of rolling back Medicaid in the event that the federal government stops funding the program's expansion. But this bill, which contained language that called for throwing Medicaid recipients off the insurance rolls, could have just as well been any of the measures that the committee was hearing, if the testimony was any indication.
Read more: www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/health_care_advocates_medicaid.html
After 2 1/2 hours of work, the committee succeeded in passing no legislation. Several lawmakers killed their own bills rather than bring them up for a vote.
Almost all of the bills were filed in response to Gov. John Bel Edwards' decision to expand Medicaid eligibility to as many as 450,000 people. And all of the bills sought to tinker with the state's $8.3 billion Medicaid program.
The most forceful testimony came during testimony on House Concurrent Resolution 4 by Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Baton Rouge. The measure was pitched as a way of rolling back Medicaid in the event that the federal government stops funding the program's expansion. But this bill, which contained language that called for throwing Medicaid recipients off the insurance rolls, could have just as well been any of the measures that the committee was hearing, if the testimony was any indication.
Read more: www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/health_care_advocates_medicaid.html