PAR: Medicaid expansion warrants consideration

A new report released online this week by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals shows the state could save money by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” while not making large increases in provider reimbursements. That’s according to PAR, which says DHH’s finding “is significant and deserves renewed legislative and public review.” You can read a PAR report on the subject here. The new DHH estimates say Louisiana could save anywhere from $197 million to $368 million over 10 years while covering more than 577,000 additional people. On the high end, if 653,000 new people are covered and the Medicaid expansion forces up the rates paid to health care providers, the report says the state could face a price tag topping $1.7 billion over a decade. Gov. Bobby Jindal opposes the expansion as inappropriate growth of what he says is an inefficient government entitlement program. He says health insurance is better left to the private market and that states should have more flexibility to design their own programs. “State policy makers cannot afford to ignore the fact that expanding an inefficient 1960s-era entitlement program limits choice and fails to fully integrate its recipients into the broader health care system,” the DHH report says.