Levine says state will face federal cutbacks

The Louisiana healthcare system will need an additional $600 million in state general fund money in order to maintain services in 2010 due to cutbacks in federal funds, state Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine told a crowd at a healthcare education reform symposium today. The state’s federal match money for Medicaid will drop from 80% to 63%, or by $480 million in 2010. Add to that a $200 million, or over 25% drop in the disproportionate share hospital program that will be cut July 2010, and the situation might call for reducing some optional programs within the system. “This is not a false alarm. This is real,” Levine says. “All bets are off when you are talking about that kind of reduction. It’s not something you can deal with on the margins.” The symposium was sponsored by a number of businesses and organizations, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, and Louisiana Business Group on Health. Levine advocates allowing Medicaid participants the option of buying private health insurance. The model he calls “allowing money to follow the patient” as they choose the type of health care coverage best suited for their needs should be the basis for all healthcare reform, he says. “Poor people are poor. They’re not stupid,” Levine says. “If they are given the information in a way that’s understandable, they will make good decisions for their families. But we have to give them the opportunity.”—Emma James