Editorial: Louisianans losing health care coverage

Nearly 70,000 Louisianans had to drop their health care policies when Congress last year didn't extend the subsidies that help lower-income workers buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. As a result, Louisiana hospitals are reporting a surge of uninsured patients seeking treatment.

Federal reports show that about 3 million fewer enrollees nationally kept the subsidized coverage offered to people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, which is the state-federal medical insurance program. Those enrollees don't make enough to buy the policies on their own.

The Advocate reported that Louisiana was among the states that saw the biggest proportion of ACA Marketplace enrollees dropping their coverage. That is according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of federal reports released at the end of July. The state went from 264,790 enrollments in March 2025 to 195,759 for the same time this year — a 26% decrease.

KFF is a prominent Washington-based healthcare think tank that says affordability is a key issue in the Nov. 3 midterm elections that will decide which party controls the U.S. House and, perhaps, the U.S. Senate. Democrats accuse Republicans of taking care away from constituents. The GOP and the Trump administration argue that taxpayers were subsidizing health insurance for too many people with good incomes.

Republicans also argue the decline in coverage is less a result of increased prices than it is to its effort to rid federal health care programs of "waste, fraud, and abuse."

Hospitals nationally and in Louisiana report losing millions of dollars so far this year because providers are legally required to provide treatment regardless of whether the patient can pay.

Ryan Cross, chief government relations officer for the Franciscan Missionaries of the Our Lady Health System Inc., which owns hospitals and clinics in Louisiana and Mississippi, said, "We've seen 2,500 more uninsured patients visit our emergency departments during the first six months of 2026 compared to the same time in 2025."

Many patients, not just those who are low-income, can't afford the expenses on their own and rely on insurance, Cross said.

Cross added, "When that congestive heart failure goes unmanaged because they don't seek care, they don't refill their meds and it flares up, it can be life threatening and very expensive. It's much cheaper and much healthier for them to seek that care on the front end rather than show up in an ambulance at my emergency room."

Baton Rouge General Hospital reports about 3,000 more patients arriving without insurance. Other Louisiana healthcare providers raised similar concerns.

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, said, "The facts are clear. Louisiana experienced one of the nation's largest Marketplace enrollment declines because families could no longer afford coverage after the enhanced premium tax credits expired and premiums surged. That's not fraud or abuse; that's working families being priced out of health insurance."

We know there is some fraud, waste, and abuse in many government programs. However, that isn't a sufficient reason to explain the reality that almost 70,000 Louisianians had to drop their health care policies because they could no longer afford them.