Medicaid reform legislation was pulled from consideration in the House Health and Welfare Committee before it could be voted on, maintaining the special session’s current run of inaction. The bill would have implemented work requirements for Medicaid recipients. Opelousas Democrat Dustin Miller says the bill was mean spirited and wasteful.
Miller says the proposal was similar to Kentucky’s Medicaid reform that is currently estimated to cost that state roughly 300 million dollars to implement.
But West Monroe Republican Frank Hoffman says the bill would inspire unemployed Medicaid recipients to get a job and provide for themselves.
Hoffman says the Medicaid program is burdened by a noticeable amount of unemployed people who lack the motivation to work, but Miller says the numbers don’t back that up.
Miller says the bill would have endangered the lives of people too sick to work, but Hoffman says the legislation provides protections for those who qualify.
After the first week of haggling legislative haggling, the only two major pieces of legislation to escape committee have been Louisiana Checkbook, and a spending cap. Stonewall Representative Lawrence Bagley, who traveled over 200 miles to attend the session, says he just wants to chance to do his job.