The heads of seven major hospital systems and healthcare organizations in Louisiana penned an open letter to the U.S. Senate on Saturday warning that proposed Medicaid cuts would be devastating for patients, the industry and state and local economies.
The letter says the cuts proposed in the current Senate version of the massive reconciliation package working its way through Congress — known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — would be "historic in their devastation and warrant our shared advocacy to protect our patients and the care we provide them at our hospitals and clinics."
The letter says the cuts threaten rural communities in particular because their hospitals are already in a precarious financial state.
The Senate bill was dealt a blow this week when the body's parliamentarian ruled it doesn’t adhere to the rules Republicans want to use to approve it without Democrats. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy says he disagrees with those calling to fire the parliamentarian; while the state's other senator, Bill Cassidy, has said he feels the House bill is superior.
The cuts proposed in the Senate bill — several billion per year in Medicaid funding to Louisiana healthcare providers — would likely force hospitals to consolidate services, reduce staff and close facilities. This would "adversely impact our collective ability to provide care, train the next generation of physicians, employ tens-of-thousands of people, and it would stifle the billions in economic impact we generate each year," the letter says.
Signing the letter were Rock Bordelon, president and CEO of Allegiance Health Management; Greg Feirn, CEO of LCMC Health; E. J. Kuiper, president and CEO of FMOL Health; Randy Morris, chair of the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition board; Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health; Rene Ragas, president and CEO of Woman’s Hospital; and Paul A. Salles, president and CEO of the Louisiana Hospital Association.
"Together, we employ more than 100,000 people and generate billions in annual economic impact," they wrote. "Hospitals account for 5.7 percent of total employment in Louisiana. Louisiana hospitals generate $38.4 billion in business transactions, $14.2 billion in annual payroll, and $1.7 billion in net state and local tax collections."
And the economic consequences, they write, "pale in comparison to the harm that will be caused to residents across the state, regardless of insurance status, who will no longer be able to get the care that they need. The House version, while it presented challenges, is a more workable solution which would help to avoid many of these effects."
The signatories say they are grateful that Governor Jeff Landry and the state Legislature passed a budget that fully supports the Medicaid program, but more work is needed.
"Louisiana and our healthcare delivery system are at a crossroads," they wrote. "We face the largest cut to healthcare in our state’s history. Will our leaders in Washington choose to protect the health of our people, hospitals and economy? We are counting on them to do so."
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