La. avoids $566M loss of Medicaid money

Louisiana has dodged the threat of losing more than half a billion dollars in federal Medicaid money next year. Sen. Mary Landrieu and her brother, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, announced today that the Obama administration has agreed to spare the state from encountering the estimated loss of $566 million during the 2013 federal fiscal year. The decision resolves a disagreement over a provision that Mary Landrieu added to the federal health care overhaul law to protect Louisiana from the loss. The senator says she based her provision on the premise that the federal formula for Medicaid match rates punished Louisiana in that it factored in rebuilding money awarded after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The Landrieus argued the provision also should apply to the fiscal year starting in October 2012.