BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ The state’s health care chief said he doubts Louisiana will be able to reach agreement with the federal government on money for a new teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans before the Bush administration leaves office.
Louisiana Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said Tuesday that without the federal contribution, he doubts the state will be able to finance the $1.2 billion project.
The state is seeking $492 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as compensation for the damage to Charity Hospital by Hurricane Katrina.
The money, which would go toward construction of a new hospital, has become the linchpin in a complex health care overhaul plan that has been the subject of months-long negotiations between Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration and federal authorities.
“People on the ground levels of FEMA, all the way up, are dug in on the issue of Charity,” Levine said.
The state has produced three independent studies showing that the hospital was more than 50 percent damaged by the storm, which would make the state eligible for the full “replacement cost.” But FEMA has said much of the damage to the hospital is attributable to years of pre-storm neglect and the state’s failure to make basic repairs after Katrina.
Levine previously said he thought the state could get a deal done with the Bush administration, which leaves office Jan. 20. However, on Tuesday, he told The Times-Picayune that the state will have to determine if it is better to wait for the next president.
“There comes a point when we have to weigh the risk-reward of waiting for a new administration,” Levine said. “We may get a better deal, or we may not get a better deal.”
Levine had hoped to bring a plan to the Legislature by early next month that would include not just money for the hospital, but a comprehensive overhaul of the state Medicaid program for the poor, elderly and disabled. The plan anticipates steering nearly 400,000 people into private managed-care plans in an effort to control costs and improve outcomes.
Levine said he doesn’t think there is enough time left before Bush leaves office to bring the plan to the Legislature and then send it to Washington for approval. Federal health care authorities have to sign off on any major changes to the Medicaid program.
“I’m not comfortable going to the Legislature and saying, ‘Here’s a massive transformation of our health care system. Please pass it in two weeks,'” Levine said.
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