Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s name is on the latest Republican attempt to strip health coverage from millions of people by repealing Obamacare. If you’re thinking that means Louisiana might somehow be protected from the worst Graham-Cassidy has to offer, think again. The state’s health secretary, Rebekah Gee, has written a letter to Cassidy explaining how the bill “uniquely and disproportionally hurts Louisiana.”
That unique harm is “due to our expansion and high burden of extreme poverty.” Because Louisiana only took advantage of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion last year, Graham-Cassidy’s funding formula would be based on that first year, when “we were still ramping up enrollment.” The state’s extreme poverty is such that many of Cassidy’s constituents wouldn’t be counted because they fall below his bill’s funding formula, which counts people between 50 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
The effect of all this, Gee writes, is that Louisiana would be “the 8th biggest loser of those states affected by the Legislation and by far the poorest and sickest state affected by these cuts. All seven of the states with larger nominal cuts, including NY, TX, and CA, are far larger and wealthier.”
Does Cassidy care about the damage his bill would do the people of his state? Signs point to no, which means Louisiana’s people will have to rely on Republican senators from other states to vote no on Graham-Cassidy.
We haven’t won the battle to save health care yet. Republicans are STILL pushing to repeal Obamacare. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote “NO” on any repeal bill. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)