INDReporter

Lawmakers push for special session

by Heather Miller

Amid crippling budget cuts to the state's charity hospital system, some lawmakers are calling for a special session to address the public hospital crisis. Some state lawmakers, particularly those whose districts are being hit hardest by budget cuts to the state's charity hospital system, are pushing for a special session to address the crippling cuts.

According to a report from The Advocate, state Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, has joined state Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Peterson in calling for a special session to deal with Gov. Bobby Jindal's budgetary blow to the LSU Hospital System, cuts that will strip critical services from charity hospitals within the LSU Hospital System.

Peterson has asked that the state Legislature convene to look at the more than $1 billion in tax exemptions offered by the state as a way to raise money for the hospitals, while Nevers, whose district includes a charity hospital in Independence that's losing its oncology department, says he wants to examine the sudden loss in federal Medicaid money, which stripped more than $850 million from the state's health and hospitals budget:
Senate President John Alario said legislators should have a plan before considering a special session. "It would be a mistake for the Legislature to call itself in to have a debate rather than having a solution," said Alario, R-Westwego.

Alario acknowledged frustration among some lawmakers where the cutbacks affect their districts.

"There are a couple of pockets like that in the state," Alario said. "The administration had to make some hard decisions. I'm not sure that the Legislature would have had a much better solution than this.

Alario said it only takes a majority vote for legislators to call themselves into session, but it takes a two-thirds vote to override Jindal's decisions.
The calls for a special session mirror a petition circulating on change.org, which asks for a special session to address drastic cuts to the "LSU Health Sciences Center hospital system, especially W.O. Moss Hospital in Lake Charles and Lallie Kemp Hospital in Independence, and the closure of Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville."

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