Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, is returning this year with another bill to expand Medicaid. He said it will not be a carbon copy of his 2014 legislation.
“The [Republican] Indiana governor just signed on with an interesting plan,” he said. “I’m going to use that in this legislation.”
Last year Nevers pushed a constitutional amendment that would have directed Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration to accept participation in the federal program. The single committee hearing was packed with onlookers, including former U.S. Sen. John Breaux, who testified in favor.
Breaux argued then that the President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act would help pay for a large share of the expansion.
Phillip Joffrion, state director for Americans for Prosperity, has said that Louisiana simply couldn’t afford the expansion and that promises of the federal government picking up a big portion of the tab were not guaranteed.
A similar bill in 2013 made it through the committee process, but failed on the Senate floor. Last year’s bill faced a higher bar, with a two-thirds majority needed in both houses and a vote of the people, since it was a constitutional amendment.