Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration unilaterally increased Medicaid payments by $22 million to seven hospitals, four of which are owned by Landry’s political donors, and Mr. Landry is an affiliate of Donald Trump. Junior’s friend and hunting buddy.
The spending decision comes less than a month after the state health department warned it may have to cut services for children and people with disabilities due to looming budget deficits.
The hospital is located in a rural part of the state where medical care is difficult to find. The Landry administration said that without additional support, the facility could be “forced to close.”
On September 16, the Louisiana Department of Health increased Medicaid payments to hospitals without prior notice. It was funded through an emergency rule process that avoids the public hearings and comment periods that typically accompany such decisions.
Legislative leaders said in interviews that they feel hospitals still need additional funding.
“We’re taking care of the people who rely on these hospitals,” said Senate President Cameron Henry (R-Metairie).
Trump connection
Four of the seven hospitals targeted for price increases are owned by Republican political donor Rock Bordelon. Ochsner Health System, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady and Christus Health System operate three other hospitals slated for higher Medicaid payments.
Bordelon’s company, Allegiance Health Management of Bossier City, operates 11 rural hospitals across Louisiana. Eight properties have been purchased since early 2016, when the state’s Medicaid expansion went into effect. Clinics, hospice centers and other medical facilities are also part of his business.
Louisiana’s seven Bordelon hospitals are already subject to higher Medicaid rates because their facilities are covered by the state’s Rural Hospital Preservation Act. The program, approved in 1997, allows 50 hospitals in sparsely populated areas of the state to pay a much higher daily bed rate of $2,737 for admitting Medicaid patients needing acute care. can be received. Most hospitals in Louisiana would receive less than half that amount, between $1,037 and $1,211 per day, for treating the same patients.
The remaining four Louisiana hospitals in Bordelon will now also receive above-average funding. Under emergency rules adopted by the Landry administration, their acute care payments were reduced from $1,174 to $2,327 per bed per day.
Bordelon said in an email this week that additional funding is needed. Without it, hospitals would lose “millions of dollars a year” in caring for Medicaid patients.
“With this new provision, these seven hospitals will be reimbursed just like the other 50 local hospitals protected by the late 1990s law, but at lower rates,” he wrote.
Mr. Bordelon became a major political donor in Louisiana shortly after he began buying up local hospitals eight years ago. He and his company have donated $291,000 to state politicians, gubernatorial candidates and political organizations since 2018, according to a review of campaign finance reports.
Almost a fifth of those donations, $53,500, went to Landry and the governor’s political action committee, CAJUN PAC II. Attorney General Liz Murrill also received significant donations ($42,500) during last election cycle.
In an email, Bordelon characterized his political giving as bipartisan, noting that he also gave $10,000 to former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of political donations from Bordelon and its companies go to the Republican Party. Since 2018, only 4% of that money has gone to state Democratic officials.
Hospital owners have something more valuable to offer Republican officials than money: personal ties to the Trump family.
When Bordelon isn’t working as a healthcare executive, he produces and stars in a hunting show called “On the Road.” Donald Trump Jr., an avid outdoorsman, appears on the show.
“We met through hunting many years ago and that’s how we became friends, not through politics,” Bordelon said. “He’s one of the many celebrity guests I hunt with on my show.”
The relationship with Trump Jr. appears to be both personal and political for Bordelon.
In July alone, Bordelon posted a photo on his Instagram account with Trump Jr., as they attended a panel together at the Republican National Convention. They posed behind a freshly shot elk in the wilderness and sat across from each other on a private plane.
Most recently, Bordelon, Trump Jr., and one of Trump Jr.’s children attended Landry’s famous wedding over the weekend after Labor Day, according to a photo posted to Bordelon’s Instagram account. He participated in a crocodile hunting fundraiser. Trump Jr. appears in a photo with Mr. Landry and Mr. Bordelon, and in two other photos with Mr. Bordelon on an airboat at the event.
Bordelon and Trump Jr. also serve on the board of Hunter Nation, a foundation aimed at mobilizing hunters in battleground states to vote in this fall’s presidential election.
According to Axios, Bordelon cited Landry’s electoral success in Louisiana last year as evidence that Hunter Nation could make a difference against Donald Trump Sr. in the presidential race. Bordelon said the organization has enlisted more than 60,000 politically unaffiliated Louisiana hunters to vote in the 2023 Louisiana gubernatorial race.
But Bordelon’s decision to increase Medicaid rates for its four hospitals has nothing to do with Bordelon’s political activities, he said. The process to increase the payout began before Mr. Landry replaced Mr. Edwards earlier this year.
“Current Health Department leadership sees it as paying off,” he said in an email. “This is not about party affiliation. This is about my passion for improving access to care in rural Louisiana and ensuring that rural Los Angeles hospitals do not close.”
Landry’s office declined to comment on the report, instead referring questions to the health department.
“This new funding will help ensure the rural communities where these hospitals are located can continue to provide emergency medical services and other critical health care needs,” said Department of Health spokesperson Kevin Litten. said.
Litten added that the higher Medicaid rates were adopted urgently because “addressing this issue for rural hospitals, which was not included in the Rural Hospital Preservation Act, has been delayed for years.”
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budget issues
The increase in admission fees to support Bordelon’s hospital comes at a time of financial stress for Louisiana. The state faces a $587 million budget deficit next fiscal year, which could worsen significantly.
Landry Health Secretary Michael Harrington told lawmakers that if the department has to absorb the budget cuts the governor is warning about, it will be forced to cut services for children, seniors and people with disabilities. said.
Most of the $22 million in additional payments to seven hospitals this fiscal year is federal money that the Louisiana Department of Health cannot transfer to other programs, but $5.2 million will come out of the state’s general fund. There is. That state money could be used to pay for health services facing cuts next year if it wants.
“It’s all a choice they’re making. It’s so strange. Why the services we provide? [ that are at risk]? ” said Kelly Monroe, executive director of The Arc of Louisiana, which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Monroe said if disability services are cut next year, providers like her will have to exclude clients with more complex needs, such as those with physical limitations in addition to intellectual disabilities. He said he might have to.
The new daily bed capacity for the seven hospitals is subject to federal approval, which is typically easily approved.
“If you want to stay open, you actually have to pay for it. These are small hospitals with high Medicaid populations,” said Dustin, a registered nurse and chairman of the Louisiana House Health and Human Services Committee. said Rep. Miller (D-Opelousas).
