(December 17)
After trying to attack the messenger, Gov. Jeff Landry capitulated both to legislators and to common sense on Dec. 16 by reversing his administration’s reckless cancellation of a major Medicaid contract.
Legislators deserve credit for forcing his hand.
I had written last week about the bizarre nonrenewal of a contract with the state’s second-largest Medicaid insurance provider, UnitedHealthcare of Louisiana. On Nov. 20, Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein argued at length before a legislative committee that United and five other providers all should have their contracts renewed. Just 11 days later, after Attorney General Liz Murrill lost a court decision in a procedural fight connected with her lawsuit against a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) also run by United, she suddenly said United was not in compliance with state law.
Immediately, the Landry administration, through Greenstein and Louisiana Medicaid Director Seth Gold, completely reversed course and announced that United’s contract — the one for which they had just argued in favor — would be pulled.
There was no reason for the Medicaid contract to be tied to the suit related to PBMs. And it was stunningly rash to pull the contract so late in the process, leaving Gold and his Medicaid agency just two weeks to move a whopping 333,000 people from United to another provider. As not all providers have agreements with all the same doctors and pharmacies, this could leave patients without their accustomed health care professionals, or even without any such professionals nearby.
And all with just weeks to figure out other arrangements — all during the Christmas season, no less.
The blowback against the sudden shift was fierce. Landry didn’t take kindly to the messenger (me) or to the blowback, as he used several social media outlets to attack me by name as “a shill for big corporations that prey upon consumers.” The Louisiana Republican Party followed up with multiple attacks on me in the same vein.
For the record, the question isn’t whether to support UnitedHealthcare or any other corporation (for which I care not at all). The question, as was amply noted by multiple advocates for the disabled and for indigent patients, is how the last-minute cancellation — of a company that Landry’s own team had supported just 11 days earlier! — would affect more than 333,000 patients….
As it was, the attempt to deflect attention to alleged corporate shilling did not work. Showing admirable diligence and thoughtfulness, legislators of both parties continued to question the abandonment of United. Senate health committee chair Patrick McMath, R-Covington, and insurance committee chairman Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, pushed for a hearing about “the termination of these contracts and the potential impacts.” Both Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, and Senate President Pro Tempore Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, expressed grave concern. So did numerous others, including key, longtime members of health and insurance committees…..
[The full column is at this link.]
