BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana is becoming the first state in the Republican-dominated Deep South to expand its Medicaid program, with more than 233,000 people already enrolled in the government-financed insurance coverage that begins today.
Medicaid expansion fulfills one of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ main campaign promises, embracing the health law championed by President Barack Obama after years of GOP stonewalling in Louisiana.
“I understand that this is a Southern state. It’s a conservative state, with a majority of the legislators Republican. But I’ve always said the idea of expanding Medicaid is not right versus left, it’s right versus wrong,” Edwards said.
Adults ages 19 to 64 with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about $16,400 for a single adult or $33,500 for a family of four — are eligible for the coverage through one of Louisiana’s Medicaid plans administered by managed-care companies.
Joyce Brock, a 62-year-old Wendy’s cashier, enrolled for the coverage and was looking for a primary care doctor to monitor her asthma and test her for diabetes. Uninsured, she had struggled to cover the costs of inhalers and other medication, whose costs she estimated at $300 a month. Medicaid expansion will help her pay for prescriptions and get routine checkups.
“I’ve been crying for Medicaid,” Brock said, signing up at a Baton Rouge clinic.
Louisiana is the 31st state to expand its Medicaid program.
The Edwards administration estimates 375,000 people will get insurance from the expansion over the next year, 70 percent of them full-time workers in industries such as food service, tourism and construction.
As a state lawmaker and when running for governor, Edwards advocated for Medicaid expansion as a way to improve health outcomes in a state where 13 percent of residents are uninsured and nearly a quarter of the population lives in poverty.
About 6,000 people already have signed up in Edwards’ home parish, and the governor tells the story of a woman approaching him at church with her 5-year-old son, saying she had been unable to afford a surgery she needed. Now, the governor said, the single mother with three jobs is enrolled in Medicaid with the surgery scheduled.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to have that story being replicated all across the state of Louisiana, in families rich and poor, black and white, Republican and Democrat,” he said.
Enrollment for 185,000 people was fast-tracked by shifting them from existing health programs that had less coverage and fewer benefits, including thousands in the New Orleans area served through a community clinic program started after Hurricane Katrina.
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