Former DHH head: Hospital leases won’t improve access for La. uninsured

The LSU Board of Supervisors on Friday unanimously approved outsourcing operations for three public hospitals, ratifying deals cut by the Jindal administration and LSU officials. The plan is meant to save money, and helps LSU begin the process of ridding itself of facilities it doesn’t want. But whether the hospitals are run by the state or by private-sector nonprofits, tying charity care to 10 hospitals doesn’t do much to improve access to care for uninsured patients throughout the state, says former Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary David Hood. What would help the uninsured, he says, is expanding Medicaid as proposed in the federal Affordable Care Act, which the Jindal administration says Louisiana will not do. “We need to think well beyond the immediate problem,” Hood says. “Does [outsourcing hospitals] drive up cost, or does it now magically help us balance the budget?” Hood’s views on the Affordable Care Act are his own, he stresses. However, in 2007 he authored a report for PAR that recommended transferring the duties of six public hospitals to local entities, while keeping four for medical education. But the “necessary first step,” the report says, is expanding coverage to as many low-income people as possible. Through the ACA, the federal government is offering to help the state do just that. The Jindal administration says the Medicaid expansion, and the ACA in general, is too expensive and unsustainable. —David Jacobs