Gov. John Bel Edwards’ health secretary, who launched the Democrat’s Medicaid expansion program but faced repeated criticism from Republicans about her management of it, is leaving the Edwards administration as the governor begins his second term.
Rebekah Gee, a medical doctor who has led the Department of Health since 2016, is resigning from the position effective Jan. 31, the governor’s office announced Monday. She’s the second person to announce plans to exit Edwards’ Cabinet ahead of the new term, joining the Louisiana National Guard’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, who is retiring on Jan. 10.
Gee has a new job, but the Edwards administration didn’t disclose the position, saying her employer would announce that later.
“I look forward to continuing my work to improve health care for the people of this great state,” Gee wrote in her resignation letter to the governor. “Although I am excited for the next professional chapter, it will be hard to say goodbye to the Louisiana Department of Health. The last four years have been the most rewarding of my professional career.”
Gee’s successor wasn’t immediately named. Edwards spokeswoman Christina Stephens said the governor is searching for his next health secretary and will name an interim agency leader only if the search isn’t wrapped up by the end of the month when Gee is slated to exit.
Edwards praised Gee for rolling out his Medicaid expansion program, saying she’s “been on the front lines of this transformational improvement to health care in Louisiana.”
GOP lawmakers repeatedly grilled health department officials over Edwards’ four-year term about spending levels and about audits from Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office that documented money spent on ineligible services and that suggested millions could have been spent on people who earned too much to receive the government-financed health insurance.
At one point, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy called on Gee to resign after an audit said her agency may have spent as much as $85 million on Medicaid coverage for people who weren’t eligible. Gee told lawmakers they ignored the benefits of Medicaid expansion to the hundreds of thousands of people who gained access to health services. She says her department bolstered its computer systems, doing more frequent wage checks to ensure people in the Medicaid program were eligible, and worked to require improved health care outcomes from Medicaid health care providers. And she steadfastly defended the expansion of Medicaid.
Beyond expansion, Edwards also applauded Gee’s work to negotiate a new contract to provide hepatitis C treatment to Medicaid patients and prisoners, a contract that has greatly expanded access to medication and has been hailed as a model for other states. Read the full story.
