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  • 2018-05-17 (xsd:date)
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  • Will Louisiana Evict Nursing Home Patients Because Medicaid Ran Out? (en)
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  • In early May 2018, news stories began cropping up reporting that thousands of nursing home residents in Louisiana could soon be evicted. The stories were accompanied by distressing images of frail elderly people packing up and preparing to leave their care facilities, and their alarming nature prompted some readers to ask if the reports were true. Nursing home residents in Louisiana had been sent notices that they would soon be evicted if state funding for Medicaid that pays for their care ran out, against a backdrop of an ongoing budget stalemate. However, since the initial reports came out, state legislators have adjusted the current budget to allow patients to remain in their homes while making drastic cuts in other areas of government. On 9 May 2018, for example, CBS News reported: State lawmakers have since sent an operating budget that shields nursing home residents from eviction to the governor's desk. According to the Associated Press on 15 May 2018, the budget still includes deep cuts, but avoids evictions: According to reports, state lawmakers are struggling to close a $648 million budget shortfall that will manifest on 1 July 2018 with the new fiscal year. As of 17 May 2018, they have approved a $28 billion budget and sent it to Governor John Bel Edwards to be signed. Democrat and Republican lawmakers are currently in a stalemate over passing taxes to replace lost revenue that will result when temporary taxes approved in previous budget years to fill budget holes expire on 1 July 2018. Per the Times-Picayune: State Republicans accused Edwards of employing an unnecessary political scare tactic to force the hand of lawmakers by issuing eviction warnings to nursing home residents. Louisiana lawmakers will convene for a two-week special session starting 22 May 2018, in which they hope to hammer out ways to close the budget hole. We sent a list of detailed questions about the budget to the Louisiana governor's office, but have not yet received a response. (en)
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