Lawmakers vote to extend Medicaid coverage to disabled children with TEFRA program

June 03-- Jun. 3--Louisiana lawmakers have backed an expansion of the Medicaid program to cover people who make too much money to qualify but who have children with disabilities, after changing the measure to have no effect on the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The TEFRA program would expand access to health insurance to roughly 1,600 people, and would cost about $9 million a year to the state and $18 million a year to the federal government, according to estimates attached to the bill.

State Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, brought the measure, which was amended in the Senate to have no cost to the state in the budget currently making its way through the Legislature. The Louisiana Department of Health would submit documents related to the program to the federal government by next June.

Disability advocates have urged lawmakers to establish the TEFRA program, with parents telling the House Appropriations Committee earlier in the session they have been told to get divorced or fall below the Medicaid income threshold so they can receive care for their children.

The legislative session must end Thursday.

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