(AP) — The state health department Monday pegged a midyear deficit in Louisiana’s Medicaid program at $308 million, giving formal notification of the problem to lawmakers.The shortfall for the $6.5 billion program that cares for the poor, elderly and disabled will have to be closed before the 2009-10 fiscal year ends on June 30.Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said the department will shift dollars from public health and mental health programs, along with tapping some federal stimulus funds and using other one-time dollars to help fill the gap.”We are working hard to find new ways to operate more effectively and efficiently during these challenging budget times,” Levine wrote in his letter to the chairman of the House and Senate budget committees.Medicaid, a government-run insurance program, is funded with a mix of state and federal dollars. Levine plans to use $35 million in state dollars — from a settlement with LSU’s public hospital in Shreveport and from a Medicaid surplus from previous years — to generate a total of $182 million in state and federal cash to plug much of the deficit.Lawmakers on the Legislature’s joint budget committee will discuss the deficit and Levine’s plans to rebalance the budget at a Tuesday meeting.Levine blamed the deficit on swine flu cases, a recession that has pushed new people onto Medicaid rolls, growth in the costs of home- and community-based services for the elderly and disabled and delays in planned cost-cutting moves for the current budget year.He said the largest cost-driver was swine flu, which increased emergency room visits, trips to the doctor’s office and medication needs — and, therefore, billing costs in the Medicaid program.- – – -Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]