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March 26, 2013
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March 26, 2013
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu told local and state community health center officials last week she is against Gov. Bobby Jindal’s pitch to lawmakers to end the state income tax, saying it would put too big a burden on 60 percent of the middle class.
Furthermore, Landrieu said she doesn’t understand how the governor plans to give back $3 billion in taxes to private and corporate statewide taxpayers, but refuse to accept $26 billion from the federal government, which would fund the state’s Medicaid program.
“What you don’t realize is that the Affordable Care Act is now the law of the land. That means that if it is not implemented here in Louisiana, it still is going to happen elsewhere – in New York, in Connecticut and even in Arizona and New Jersey,” she said.
“Our money will go to improve health care and health care centers in other states, but it won’t help us here in Louisiana,” she added.
Dr. Gary Wiltz, CEO of Teche Action Clinic in Houma, Dulac, Morgan City and Franklin, last week joined members of his board, as well as other Louisiana community health centers and their board members at the National Association of Health Care Centers Convention in Washington, D.C.
“For the first time in our nation, we are putting primary care, at the base of the pyramid in the health care delivery system, something that is long overdue,” Wiltz said.
“Our organization took this literally. We cannot stand still. That is why we are called Teche ‘Action,’” he added.
Community Health Centers such as Teche Action Clinic in Terrebonne and St. Mary parishes receive operational funding through the federal government, but treat their patients on a sliding-fee scale. Their patient population includes those who have insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and those with no insurance. Community health centers serve 22 million people nationwide.
Gov. Jindal has refused to allow Medicaid expansion in Louisiana, under the Affordable Care Act.
Landrieu contends if Jindal doesn’t allow the expansion, “We’re still going to pay for it. It’s law.”
“Right now, the federal government will pay 100 percent of what it will cost everyone in Louisiana who are at 133 percent of poverty a way to receive health care through 2016. And Louisiana will not have to pay a dime of it back,” she said.
“After 2016, the government will pay 90 percent of the costs for the following seven years, meaning the state will have to fund 10 percent of the costs each of those years, roughly $100 million per year,” the senator explained. “Yet, (Jindal) plans on giving back $3 billion a year by eliminating income tax for individuals and corporations. I just don’t get it.
“I think the tax proposal, while I have not read all the details, is just terribly unfair to the middle class, to small businesses and to the working poor and the poor – to shift the entire burden of the income tax on their backs.”
Landrieu acknowledged safety provisions Jindal is considering, saying she would continue to “give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“There might be a way he could make this work that doesn’t raise taxes on 60 percent of those in the middle, but I have yet to be convinced by any of the economic data that I have seen,” she said. “His shift is actually raising taxes on the middle class, and I think we should be doing the opposite.”
During the Washington convention, news that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the FY2013 Mikulski/Shelby Continuing Resolution sent applause rippling throughout the entire association. The resolution contains the funding language necessary for community health care center operations.
Tom Van Coverden, president and CEO of the National Association of Health Care Centers, commended Congress for recognizing the critical role health centers play in meeting the need for access to primary health care in medically underserved communities across the country.
“Ensuring this … will allow health centers to extend care to 1.5 million patients who currently lack access to a regular source of primary and preventive care,” he said. “This is a tremendous bipartisan affirmation by Congress that health centers offer a real solution to our nation’s health care access and cost challenges.”
Teche Action Clinic Chief Financial Officer William Brent III, who is also serving as president of the Louisiana Primary Care Association, presents Sen. Mary Landrieu an award recognizing her continual effort in fighting for community health care center funding.
