Showing posts with label Gov Bobby Jindal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gov Bobby Jindal. Show all posts

Sunday, April 27, 2014

SHAME ON YOU, GOVERNOR JINDAL AND MEMBERS OF THE LOUISIANA STATE LEGISLATURE

The State of Louisiana can't come up with the cash to fund the Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection program in New Orleans, which provides services to people and families with income that exceeds the limit for eligibility for Medicaid but who do not earn enough to purchase private insurance.
The population covered by GNOCHC falls within the income limits of the Medicaid expansion that is part of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. But that expansion, which would be fully paid for by the federal government in its early years, has been opposed by the Jindal administration, and an effort to get around the governor’s opposition was shot down in a state Senate committee last week.
Neither the governor nor the members of the state legislature care enough about the people who will lose access to health care to fund the program, nor will they allow Medicaid expansion. This policy of exclusion is either madness or group hardheartedness beyond what I can imagine. The so-called "good Christians" in the governor's office and in the legislature need to spend time reading the Gospels in the Holy Bible, which they recently considered making the official state book. Their neglect of the 240,000 citizens who could be helped by Medicaid expansion is shameful and downright immoral.

My nomination for official state book is A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole, the title of which is also an apt description of the present governor and most, but not all, of the members of the state legislature. 

Friday, March 15, 2013

OPEN LETTER FROM SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU ON MEDICAID EXPANSION IN LOUISIANA

Sen. Mary Landrieu
Dear Friend,

When Gov. Jan Brewer announced Arizona's Medicaid expansion, she explained that her state "can leverage nearly $8 billion in federal funds over four years, save or protect thousands of quality jobs and protect our critical rural and safety net hospitals."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said of his state's expansion: "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."

Govs. Brewer and Scott are part of the growing chorus of Republican governors who understand that expanding Medicaid by accepting 100 percent of federal funds for three years and no less than 90 percent thereafter is a smart economic move for their states. Despite their opposition to the Affordable Care Act, these governors understand that the time for political posturing is over.

But Gov. Jindal's posturing has continued, as he falsely argues that a Medicaid expansion would be too expensive and not flexible enough for Louisiana. Mounting evidence from multiple, independent sources shows otherwise.

The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette agrees that Gov. Jindal should take another look at expanding expanding Medicaid in Louisiana.

Currently, when people without insurance go to the hospital and cannot pay, the state and the hospital pick up the cost, passing it on to people with private insurance for an estimated cost of $1,000 per family each year.

Expanding access through Medicaid would give up to 400,000 Louisianians access to basic medical care. These are mostly working people who simply cannot afford health insurance. Not only does this save hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money from being spent on so-called "uncompensated care," it also boosts the budgets of our state, our hospitals and the many businesses and suppliers that work with them in urban and rural areas alike.

By all estimates, including a study commissioned by the Jindal Administration, the Medicaid expansion would bring billions of federal dollars into our state's economy. A recent Families USA report estimates the expansion would bring 15,600 new jobs to our state by 2016 and $1.8 billion in additional economic activity for 2016 alone. Figures like these are why governors across the country are saying yes to expanding health coverage for their people.

There are even more reasons why the Medicaid expansion is best for Louisianians, as the Times-Picayune editorial board points out.

Gov. Jindal also claims that adequate flexibility has not been granted—that's simply not true. In Arkansas for example, Gov. Mike Beebe worked out an agreement with the federal government to allow his state to use the federal funds to extend private insurance to Medicaid-eligible people. In Florida, Gov. Scott secured a federally approved plan allowing the state to extend its version of Bayou Health to all Medicaid-eligible people.

In fact, the creation of Bayou Health, the Governor's initiative to give Medicaid enrollees the opportunity to select a private plan to oversee their care, required a waiver from the federal government, which he has secured.

Louisiana's Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein wrote in a health care journal that Bayou Health is "the most significant transformation of Louisiana's Medicaid program in its more than 40 years of existence." Now that it is transformed, why can't it be expanded to give more working people a chance for quality health care?

As Gov. Brewer said, "the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land." Whether Louisiana expands Medicaid or not, our citizens will still pay for it, only that money will go to states like Arkansas, Florida and Arizona. Does it make sense for our taxes to only support health coverage for people in other states?

It's time for Gov. Jindal to put the needs of Louisianians above his own political posturing. It is the right thing for our people, our health and our economy.

Keep in touch,

Thursday, March 14, 2013

BLOGGER REVEALS BOBBY JINDAL'S "FIXES" FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION IN LOUISIANA

Blogger, Lamar White, has done brilliant reporting, yes, real reporting, on Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and his gradual destruction of public education in Louisiana.  To all you professional journalists who mock the efforts of bloggers, and not all paid journalists do, my advice would be to learn from the likes of Lamar and other fine bloggers.  Lamar explores the results of the efforts of the out-of-towners whom Jindal has brought in and paid high salaries to "fix" public education in Louisiana.  I don't mean to imply that our education system did not and does not need fixing, but Jindal's failing gurus are most emphatically not doing the job of improving public education in Louisiana.
John White and his team at the Department of Education, in an effort to demonstrate how the public school system is failing Louisiana school children, are diverting millions in funding every year from public schools in order to enrich some of the worst schools in the United States– religious zealots posing as educators, fly-by-night operators who don’t even have the necessary infrastructure, and bigoted and religiously intolerant “church schools” that specialize in utilizing thoroughly debunked textbooks and materials to stifle dissent, schools that seek to enrich themselves with taxpayer dollars while reserving their right to expel any student on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation or religion.  
There you have it - the fix for public education by the well-paid out-of-towners, who are no more than flim-flam artists paid generous salaries by our flim-flam artist governor.  I am no xenophobe, but please, Governor Jindal, if you're going to bring in people from other states and pay them high salaries, even as you lay off thousands of state employees and raise the unemployment figures here in Louisiana, at the very least, hire people who are knowledgeable and competent in their jobs, and not the likes of John White and his cohorts.  

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

ANOTHER JINDAL EDUCATIONAL "REFORM" DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

One of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature laws that makes it harder for teachers to earn and retain a form of job protection, called tenure, was declared unconstitutional Monday.

State District Judge R. Michael Caldwell, of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, who in December upheld the tenure part of a sweeping education law, reversed himself after hearing new arguments from both sides.
Heh, heh.  Another of the hastily thrown together educational "reforms" is declared unconstitutional by a District Court judge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The first "reform" to be declared unconstitutional was the funding of vouchers for private schools with money constitutionally allocated to public schools.  Of course, both decisions will be appealed, and who knows what will be decided by the Louisiana Supreme Court.  Still, it's another setback for the the governor (who is at 37% approval rating) and his enablers in the legislature.
State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite and an opponent of the tenure law, said Monday that, during House debate on the measure, he and other opponents warned that it was legally flawed but that Jindal and his legislative allies “ramrodded it through.”

Edwards, a lawyer, is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and has said he plans to run for governor in 2015.
Thank you, Rep. Edwards.  You should know.  Good luck to you in your run for governor.

Jindal and his minions in the legislature want what they want and don't seem duly concerned about the constitutionality of the laws they pass.  What?  Us worry?

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

GOVERNOR JINDAL STAYS HOME


From DemocraticUnderground.com
.
Bobby Jindal was passed over...

1. As Mitt Romney's choice for vice-president

2. As keynote speaker for the Republican National Convention

3. As a speaker in prime time at the RNC

That's not to say that I think the governor is staying home for any reason other than the approach of Tropical Storm Isaac.

Monday, July 2, 2012

COME AGAIN, GOVERNOR JINDAL

Those of us who do NOT wish to see Mitt Romney elected can only hope that the national news outlets continue to invite Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as a guest.  Here's Bobby on Meet the Press with David Gregory.
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL:
David, every governor's got two critical decisions to make.  One is do we set up these exchanges.  And, secondly, do we expand Medicaid.  And no, in Louisiana, we're not doing either one of those things.  I don't think it makes sense to do those.  I think it makes more sense to do everything we can to elect Mitt Romney to repeal Obamacare.
....
DAVID GREGORY:
There are a lot of facts and figures there, a lot of charges which are disputed, so I want to try to flow this down and break it down so it's understandable.  Governer [Howard] Dean, on what Governor Jindal is proposing to not do, can you actually explain what the impact of that will be?
....

GOV. HOWARD DEAN:
Let's deal with the exchanges.  First, if you don't put in your own exchange the federal government's going to run one for you.
                                 
DAVID GREGORY:
The exchange is where you would actually go and buy--
                                 
DAVID GREGORY:
--a program.
                                 
GOV. HOWARD DEAN:
To buy health insurance.  So he has a choice.  Bobby has a choice, basically, of having this done for him by the federal government or doing it himself.  So I think that's a no brainer.  But, look, in my state we have had universal healthcare for every kid under 18 for 20 years by an expansion of Medicaid.

In Louisiana, it's 48th in the country in terms of child poverty, 48th in the country in terms of premature death, 48th in the country in terms of industrial accidents and so forth.  Just by expanding Medicaid alone, by accepting the president's Medicaid expansion, 340,000 out of those 860,000 uninsured people get covered.  This is a great deal.
Jindal goes on to say that the unemployment rate in Louisiana is lower than the national average, and the rate is low because of his policies as governor.  Well, I suppose he's entitled to take credit for the low unemployment rate, but it's mainly due to oil and gas company activities.  If Jindal takes credit, he also has to take the blame for the fact that the state is broke, and to maintain the fiction of the mandated balanced budget, he had to cut vital programs in a state that weighs in at the bottom in the good stuff and near the top in all the bad stuff.  Plus, he had to use one-time money to fill the budget gap, money that will not be available next year, so presumably there will be more cuts to vital services.
(VIDEO)
MITT ROMNEY: With regards to the individual mandate, the individual responsibility program that I proposed, I was very pleased that the compromise between the two houses includes the personal responsibility mandate. That is essential for bringing the health care costs down for everyone and getting everyone the health insurance they need.
(END OF VIDEO)
DAVID GREGORY:
This is somebody who says, "Let's repeal a law that has the individual mandate at its core."

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL:
Well, I think Paul Ryan made this point very well Friday.  Mitt Romney's always been against the national mandate.  He's always been against Obamacare.  Always said he wanted to repeal it.  Look, states are different.  Founding Fathers intended each state to be a laboratory of experimentation.
....

I come from one the most distinct cultural states in the entire country.  Mardi Gras is great for Louisiana.  May not work as well in Vermont or other states.  The reality is what works in Massachusetts may not be appropriate to another state.  Mitt Romney--
                                 
DAVID GREGORY:
You're really comparing Mardi Gras to universal health insurance?
Ha, ha, ha.  Yes, David, Jindal is doing just that.  Next thing you know, the Obama socialist team will be trying to run the Mardi Gras festivities.  You know...the slippery slope.

Watch the show, or read the entire transcript at the link above, and remember...

In a brief slip of the tongue while discussing the Supreme Court’s health-care ruling, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal invoked the term “Obomney’’ care, a phrase that does Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney no favors.
....

“There’s only one candidate, Gov. Romney, who has committed that he will repeal the Obomney, uh, the Obamacare tax increase,’’ Mr. Jindal said.

Oops.