Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Louisiana Medicaid Likely to be Expanded

Feds signal approval of coverage up to 250% FPL

By Marc Kilmer

Categories: Louisiana, Medicaid, SCHIP

In light of states like Ohio being turned down in their quest to expand state children's health insurance programs, the news that Louisiana is likely to receive federal approval for its expansion is notable. It seems that this state's officials have learned from the over-reaching of other states and are proposing a plan to cover kids in families up to 250% of the federal poverty level.

Governor Jindal ran as a health care reformer in his gubernatorial campaign last year. This type of CHIP expansion shows little in the way of creativity or innovation, though. The only notable thing about it is that Louisiana officials were smart enough to submit a proposal that meets the limits the Bush Administration set for the program. Jindal's term is young and I hope we see some better proposals out of him in the coming year.