EDITORIAL: Improvements show promise on Medicaid spending

April 10-- Apr. 10--As the Louisiana Legislature convened Monday for its annual regular session, some Republican lawmakers complained about the amount the state is spending and expected to spend on insurance coverage for the poor.

Some lawmakers are rightly concerned that some of the money being spent on Medicaid, particularly in light of the recent expansion, could be wasted on people who do not qualify for the program.

Some of those fears are based on audits that found the state wasn't doing nearly enough to ensure the people receiving coverage qualify for it.

While those reports were troubling, there are some promising indications that the tide could be turning. The state announced just last week that more than 30,000 have been removed from the Medicaid rolls because they earn too much money.

That is exactly what should happen if those people were actually disqualified because of their income level. And it is a good reason to think the state is at least heading in the right direction in keeping better tabs on the people who use Medicaid.

When the program expanded several years ago, it gave hundreds of thousands of Louisiana residents, most of them working poor, new access to health care coverage. And there have been studies since then that show the expansion has paid off with significant achievements such as cancer diagnoses and other developments that could well be life-saving.

While the overall goal of responsible spending is a laudable one, the attacks on Medicaid seem to be motivated by partisanship, especially coming as they do after the release of good news on the oversight front.

Medicaid has been a politically divisive issue, and it is likely to remain one leading up to the fall elections. But helping people who are poor and in need of health care seems like an issue that could defy partisanship.

There should be meticulous oversight of all government spending, including the money that pays for health care coverage. And people should be able to get access to the health care that will help keep them alive. Those are broad areas of consensus, and if lawmakers start from there, they might find it easier to achieve common goals rather than rancorous debate.

The Medicaid expansion has helped real people in Louisiana. The state must oversee the program in a way that restores the trust of all but the most ardent opponents of it.

Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper, not of any individual.

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