Most of the low-income residents who have depended on New Orleans’ system of primary care and mental health clinics for their medical needs should continue to receive that government-subsidized care in 2014, thanks to a new agreement reached by state and local health officials.
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals officials late Friday announced plans to extend $6.1 million next year to the Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection, a Medicaid waiver program that enables 60,000 people who don’t otherwise qualify for Medicaid to access care at 40 area clinics.
“It’s really good news for more than 60,000 people,” said Dr. Karen DeSalvo, health commissioner for the city.
Long-term funding for the program has been in question ever since Gov. Bobby Jindal refused to implement Medicaid expansion as allowed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called called Obamacare.
Since 2010, a Medicaid waiver has enabled people in the New Orleans area with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to get free primary and mental health care at these neighborhood centers. But with that waiver set to expire on Dec. 31, clinic leaders have been fretting over future funding.
Friday’s news offered some hope for public health advocates, but it didn’t come without concessions. Essentially, health care providers agreed to take some funding cuts in order to ensure the program can continue through 2014, DeSalvo said.
Under the terms of the funding extension, one third of the 60,000 people currently receiving care will no longer be eligible, said Department of Health and Hospitals spokeswoman Olivia Watkins.
Only those whose incomes fall below 100 percent of the federal poverty level will be able to participate. The thinking behind that is that those who make more than the poverty level should be able to access health care coverage though the federal health care exchange — an online insurance marketplace available to the uninsured as a provision of the Affordable Care Act.
In addition, health care providers will no longer get any money -- currently $3 million per year -- to help them pay for facilities and equipment needed to serve patients in local neighborhoods. DeSalvo said, however, that while that funding was an important component of the program in the early stages, the need for it has tapered off as the clinics have become more established.
Also ending under the new arrangement will be supplemental dollars paid to health care providers at the end of the year based on the number of patients they served.
Finally, the rates paid for services provided will drop by 13 percent.
Herschel Abbott, an attorney who chairs the St. Thomas Community Health Center in the Lower Garden District, said he was encouraged by the news that centers like his will be able to continue to serve people in need.
“If it does what they say it will do, I’m delighted to hear it,” he said.
Both Abbott and DeSalvo said they are optimistic that the extension will provide the time needed to find a long-term funding solution for the patients who use these services.
In a written statement announcing the news, DHH Secretary Kathy Kleibert said the agreement came about in part because of local officials’ commitment to find long-term funding beyond 2014.
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