Medicaid expansion a clear winner in 5^th Congressional District
Businessman Vance McAllister and state Sen. Neil Riser are both Republicans whose views on most major issues are mirror images. With one glaring exception: McAllister supports the expansion of Medicaid in Louisiana, and Riser does not. In the final weeks of their 5^th Congressional District runoff, Riser spared no expense in reminding voters of McAllister’s support for expanding health coverage. So while many observers will read McAllister landslide 20-point win as proof of voters’ anti-incumbent sentiment, or the popularity of Duck Dynasty over Gov. Bobby Jindal, the clearest winner in Saturday’s special election is Medicaid expansion and the 400,000 low-income Louisianans who would gain much-needed health coverage if the state would take advantage of the opportunity presented by the Affordable Care Act.

Voters in Lafourche Parish pick libraries over prison cells
Lafourche Parish Council Chairman Lindel Toups made national news last week when he used loaded language to express his opinion that libraries in his community had too much money and objected to a program geared at Spanish speakers. “Let that son of a bitch go back to Mexico,” Toups averred to the local Tri-Parish Times, in remarks that were later picked up by the Los Angeles Times. “There’s just so many things they’re doing that I don’t agree with. … Them junkies and hippies and food stamps [recipients] and all, they use the library to look at drugs and food stamps [on the Internet]. I see them do it.” But a Saturday ballot measure that would have diverted money from the library to build more jail cells – in the most incarcerated state in the world – was defeated by a 54-46 margin.

Advocate: “The moral standing of the governor’s budget practices have been shredded.”
A ruling last week by a district judge striking down the use of “fund sweeps” to pay the state’s operating expenses prompted a stinging Sunday editorial by the Baton Rouge Advocate that questioned the “precarious” ways that Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature have chosen to balance the state budget in recent years. “The sweeps take money from (dedicated funds) to fill gaps in the general budget, which pays for state workers and services. Jindal has portrayed himself as a reformer, but the budget sweeps are the easy way around budget problems,” the paper writes, calling the state budget a “house of cards” and declaring the fund sweeps to be a “symptom of a larger problem.” Left unsaid by the newspaper is what caused the problem: the chronic failure by this governor and Legislature to raise enough revenue to pay for the programs they claim to support.

Nursing homes give generously to politicians, get a lot in return: Editorial
Despite dwindling occupancy rates, nursing homes in Louisiana have successfully influenced the flow of taxpayer dollars to their coffers through generous campaign donations. As the Editorial Board writes: Nursing home occupancy in [Louisiana] dipped below 80 percent in 1998 and has drifted downward since then. … Yet the industry has kept a stranglehold on its piece of the state budget even as Louisiana has slashed Medicaid payments to hospitals, doctors, home health care providers and other health services. Why on earth would Gov. Jindal and lawmakers prop up a shrinking private industry with the public’s money? Here’s a theory: Cash. … There is a need for nursing homes, certainly. But Gov. Jindal and lawmakers seem to be letting the industry’s generous campaign donations drive budget decisions. … That isn’t right.

LSU hospital privatizations result in de-facto budget cuts for state agencies
State agencies will have to put more money toward their employees’ pension costs next year thanks to the administration’s decision to lay off several thousand state workers in the public hospital system. As Nola.com reports, the layoffs in the charity system means fewer people are paying in to the retirement system, raising costs to agencies and raising the specter of additional budget cuts.

Upcoming LBP Events
LBP analyst David Gray will sit on an exert panel regarding payday lending in Louisiana tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Elm Grove Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. More details on this event are on our payday lending page. In addition, LBP and PolicyLink are hosting a Twitter chat on “Protecting Your Paycheck: The Pitfalls of Payday Lending” 1 p.m., Dec. 12 using the hashtag  #protecturpay.