Governor Bobby Jindal’s refusal to expand Medicaid and ignorance surrounding Preisdent Obama’s Affordable Care Act was the focus of a Grassroots Baton Rouge Democrats and College Democrats of LSU meeting on Tuesday.
Bruce Blaney, coordinator of the Louisiana Supported Living Network, criticized Jindal’s expansion refusal, saying he was abandoning Louisiana’s community.
Blaney worked for Jindal when he was head of the Department of Health and Hospitals, and called him “extraordinarily arrogant and not that competent.”
“[Jindal] has been an absolute curse to Louisiana since he’s ben here,” Blaney said.
But expanding Medicaid would cover around 400,000 Louisiana residents, according to Louisiana Budget Project analyst Steve Spires.
“[The ACA] makes insurance more affordable for families and small businesses,” Spires said.
During his talk, Spires explained that the individual mandate – which requires everyone to purchase health insurance by 2014 – is necessary for the Affordable Care Act as a whole to work.
“We don’t want anyone to be denied coverage because they are sick, but unless everyone signs up before they get sick, premiums will remain too high,” he said. “So we need the individual mandate, paired with tax credits, to help people who can’t afford insurance.”
Spires also stressed refusing to expand Medicaid would “leave the uninsured with no other coverage options.”
Several organizations were present, including members of the Recall Bobby Jindal organization, a member of Occupy Baton Rouge and Representative Patricia Smith
Smith supported earlier statements of raising education surrounding the Affordable Care Act.
“People don’t understand the [ACA,]” she said. “First thing you have to do is stop people from calling it Obamacare.”
Talk eventually settled on ways to counteract Jindal’s refusal to expand Medicaid.
Assistant librarian Aaron Lercher suggested simply attacking Jindal’s refusal.
“Go after the denial of care to 500,000 people,” Lercher said. “People die because of Jindal’s decision.”
Contact Taylor Balkom at [email protected].