Louisiana Governor Jindal, through his newly appointed Washington DC-based Deputy Communications Director, Mike Reed, has sent out an email blast excoriating Landrieu for what it called in its headline, RESPONSE TO TODAY’S NASTY POLITICAL ATTACK ON GOVERNOR JINDAL BY SENATOR LANDRIEU"
"Senator Landrieu’s Office Sends Long Email Attack On Governor Jindal Instead Of Working To Solve Sequestration Crisis"
The public spat comes at a moment when Senator Landrieu has been polled as the most popular statewide official while Jindal gets the honors, for now, sitting at the poll bottom in terms of job performance.
Jindal, who has dropped significantly in the polls over the past two years, for reasons including his habitual campaigning and politicalizing outside of the State of Louisiana, is taking Landrieu to task with triple barrels. Polls have proven that President Obama has very little support in Louisiana, the state is ruby-red Republican and Democrat Landrieu facing re-election, fell sizeably in the polls during the very midst of the Obamacare federal healthcare vote debacle.
Who is most harmed in the polls, as the state's dirty laundry airs in the nation's bright lights will wait for the future to tell.
What is absolutely certain for now, however, is that Louisiana own budgetary house is collapsing as fast as its now infamous Bayou Corne sinkhole. It needs a significantly strong state-federal relationship connecting the arms of the state's administration and its Congress officials. Without one, "survey says", Louisiana goes into the upcoming Congressional and state legislative money game, as a definite loser.
'Below is the Jindal email blast sent out Tuesday evening:
It must be reelection season again for Senator Landrieu, as today her office has engaged in the type of negative campaign tactics that the people of Louisiana have grown so sick of witnessing from our leaders in Washington D.C.
While the country is about 48 hours away from the damaging sequestration cuts going into effect, which President Obama has warned could have devastating impacts including, making the U.S. less secure from terror attacks, forcing law enforcement to release criminals into the streets, and putting 220 Louisiana teacher’s jobs at risk. Senator Landrieu and her staff appear to have spent most of their afternoon looking for a way to attack Governor Jindal on the issue of expanding Obamacare in the state, an issue the Governor has already made his decision on.
Obamacare is a poorly crafted law that will put the country further into debt and that does not reduce the cost of health care. Furthermore, Medicaid is an old fashioned program that is inflexible for states and provides a poor quality of care for Louisiana’s low-income residents. We agree with President Obama when he said in 2009 that it is not possible to keep adding people to the Medicaid rolls without reforming the program.
Senator Landrieu’s staff admitted in their very long email that Medicaid expansion would cost Louisiana over $1 billion and that a large portion of the new coverage would be from shifting citizens from private insurance to the Medicaid rolls. We think this is the wrong approach for our state’s low-income residents.
Apparently Senator Landrieu is taking her marching orders from President Obama, deciding that today would be a good day to be a cheerleader for Obamacare, spending her time attacking Governor Jindal instead of working with her colleagues to solve the latest budget crisis manufactured by Washington D.C.
We hope Senator Landrieu and her staff can get back to work tomorrow on finding a way to deal with the sequestration reductions without raising taxes so that Louisiana’s economy is not impacted further by President Obama’s policies.
***FACT CHECK***
Setting Straight Gov. Jindal’s False and Fictitious Medicaid Expansion Claims Governor entitled to his views, but not his own facts
Earlier today, U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., joined Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, and Moriba Karamoko, director of the Louisiana Consumer Healthcare Coalition (LCHC), to discuss the importance of expanding Medicaid for Louisiana’s economy.
During the call, Families USA and LCHC released the results of a report showing that by 2016 the Medicaid expansion would create 15,600 jobs across all sectors of Louisiana’s economy and bring $1.8 billion in increased economic activity, in 2016 alone.
Sen. Landrieu criticized Gov. Bobby Jindal for refusing to expand Medicaid in light of these clear benefits for Louisiana’s people, economy and businesses.
Under pressure, the Jindal Administration made false claims in a press release and conference call with reporters against Sen. Landrieu’s record and the economic benefits Louisiana would receive by expanding the state’s Medicaid program to 400,000 Louisianians.
FICTION No. 1: “Senator Landrieu voted to cut Louisiana's Medicaid program by over a billion dollars and now she's worried about Louisiana families?”[Office of the Governor press release, Feb. 26, 2013]
FACTS: Sen. Landrieu’s record of helping to fund, fix and strengthen Louisiana’s Medicaid program is clear and a matter of record. · Thanks to Sen. Landrieu’s efforts, Louisiana received more than $1.2 billion in Medicaid funds through a fix to the disaster FMAP formula that she championed at the request of Gov. Jindal. The total amount that Sen. Landrieu secured was $1 billion morethan the state’s original request. [The Advocate, July 16, 2012] · House GOP leadership insisted on using Louisiana’s FY13 and FY14 disaster FMAP as a pay-for in the federal, two-year transportation bill. The provision was inserted just several days before final passage of the bill. Sen. Landrieu fought the provision and was successful at reducing the size of the cut by 50 percent. Gov. Jindal never called the House leadership to urge them to change course. [Times-Picayune, July 11, 2012] · The entire Louisiana Congressional delegation voted for the transportation bill, which included the RESTORE Act and $1.4 billion in transportation funding for Louisiana. Would the governor like to give that money back to the federal government? [The Houma Courier, July 6, 2012]
Download a timeline of Sen. Landrieu’s efforts to successfully fix the flawed disaster FMAP formula.
FICTION No. 2: “Senator Landrieu may have spent too much time in Washington, D.C. with President Obama where the economy is booming and not enough time back in Louisiana where real people are working in the American economy.” [Office of the Governor press release, Feb. 26, 2013]
FACTS: The Governor could help strengthen Louisiana's economy by expanding Medicaid to 400,000 Louisianians, many of whom are working Louisianians who today have no health insurance. · As this morning's report shows, 15,600 new jobs would be created across all sectors of Louisiana's economy by 2016 and $1.8 billion in additional economic activity would be added to Louisiana's economy in 2016. [Families USA and Louisiana Consumer Healthcare Coalition, Feb. 26, 2013]
FICTION No. 3: “In Louisiana, Medicaid expansion will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion in only ten years.” [Press conference call with Bruce Greenstein, Feb. 26, 2013]
FACTS: The governor fails to acknowledge the savings to the state that would accrue if Louisiana expands Medicaid. · Reduction of $267 million in uncompensated care costs. [The Cost and Coverage Implications of the ACA Medicaid Expansion by Kaiser Foundation, November 2012 ] o Uncompensated care costs are borne not only by the state but even more by the hospitals. These costs put a financial strain on hospitals and other health care providers. Uncompensated care also raises health care costs for everyone else, as these costs are passed onto those with private insurance. o It has been estimated that each family pays an annual “hidden health care tax” of $1,000 to cover these costs. [Hidden Health Tax: Americans Pay a Premium, Washington: Families USA, 2009] o Medicaid expansion would dramatically reduce uncompensated care, and help shore up not only the state’s budget but also the budgets of the hospitals in Louisiana. · Expanding Medicaid would increase state revenue as a result of increased jobs and economic activity in the state. [Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2010] · The state would also see reductions in other public health service expenditures as a result of expanding Medicaid. [Families USA and Louisiana Consumer Healthcare Coalition, Feb. 26, 2013] · The Governor also fails to mention that by refusing to expand Medicaid he is not being fair to Louisiana taxpayers whose federal tax dollars would simply be going to other states and not returned to Louisiana.
FICTION No. 4: “To fix Medicaid, we must target several areas for reform. They include eligibility, benefit design, cost-sharing, use of the private insurance market, financing and accountability.” [Office of the Governor press release, Feb. 26, 2013]
FACTS: · When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approved Louisiana’s Medicaid waiver for Bayou Health, Gov. Jindal claimed it would update Louisiana’s Medicaid system. · Gov. Jindal can use the same flexibility to add Louisianians that need basic health care into Bayou Health. · Other governors, including Republican John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Scott of Florida have come out to publicly champion expansion because they found a willing partner in HHS to work on flexibility, the same kind of flexibility that Gov. Jindal says he wants. [Reuters, Feb. 4, 2013; USA TODAY, Feb. 20, 2013] o “The federal health department has committed to working with us to ensure we have all the flexibilities we need to make Medicaid best meet the needs of Floridians,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Feb. 20, 2013.
FICTION No. 5: If Medicaid expands, there will be 187,000 people in Louisiana who drop private coverage to take Medicaid. [Press conference call with Bruce Greenstein, Feb. 26, 2013]
FACTS: The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has a documented history of exaggerating numbers in an attempt to mislead the public about health care reform. · For example, the Jindal Administration used to claim that Medicaid expansion would cost the state $3.7 billion. [Louisiana Impact Estimate of federal health care reform 2010 by DHH Sec. Alan Levine] · Now the Governor says just over $1 billion, which more closely matches the estimates by Kaiser and Urban Institute, which provide nonpartisan, highly respected health care analysis. [The Cost and Coverage Implications of the ACA Medicaid Expansion by Kaiser Foundation, November 2012 ] · It took the Jindal Administration two years to revise their final estimate to be more in line with nonpartisan analysis. This case is no different. The Administration claims a crowd-out of 187,000, and a Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and Uninsured report estimates only 88,000.
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