The floods and the feds

The Advocate’s Gordon Russell looks at the aid that will be needed to help people rebuild their homes – and takes a look at the lessons learned from the Road Home program that helped cover uninsured losses after Hurricane Katrina.  

“Most of the people affected by this disaster received advice through their lenders that they didn’t need insurance,” said Walter Leger, a lawyer and native of St. Bernard Parish who headed the Housing Committee for Blanco’s Louisiana Recovery Authority after Katrina. “And that advice was given indirectly by the federal government through the development of the (federal) flood maps. “You can’t accuse homeowners in these areas of being irresponsible. The federal government basically said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Does the federal government now have an obligation to help? A legal obligation, maybe not. But a moral obligation? Probably yes.”

The AP’s star reporter, Melinda Deslatte, examines the complicated politics behind Louisiana’s upcoming request for more federal aid to help flood victims in South Louisiana – from the clout of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise to the fact that three Louisiana members of Congress voted against an aid package for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Meanwhile,

The full scope of the flood’s destruction is only starting to become clear as people rip out the insides of homes and deposit moldy carpets, soaked drywall, water-damaged furniture and heaps of personal belongings onto their front lawns. Gov. John Bel Edwards estimates well over 100,000 homes took damage from the floodwaters. That doesn’t count ruined businesses, fire stations, schools and other public buildings. State officials first will need a better tally of the devastation to make a case for congressional assistance. As a preliminary request, Edwards asked President Barack Obama during his Tuesday visit to push Congress for federal block grant aid.

Medicaid expansion may lower premiums

There is more good news about the benefits of extending Medicaid coverage to low-income adults. The New York Times’ Upshot blog reports on new research by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that says expansion may lead to lower insurance premiums for people who buy subsidized insurance policies through the federal health insurance marketplace. The reason: In non-expansion states, people with incomes of between 100 and 133 percent of the poverty line are required to buy policies through the exchange. And people in that income group tend to be sicker than others.

A substantial body of research has shown that lower-income Americans tend to have poorer health than those who earn more. (Cause and effect isn’t clear: People may be unable to earn a higher income because of health problems.) And that difference may explain why Medicaid expansion may have lowered insurance premiums. Because the states that didn’t expand had more sick people in their middle-class insurance pool, prices went up for everyone, the paper argues.

Who pays for Entergy’s mistake?

A fight is underway between Louisiana’s largest utility and some of its biggest customers over who should be responsible for $140 million in cost overruns on a nuclear power plant upgrade project. As Mark Ballard reports for The Advocate, it’s a debate about money and principle that could also affect Entergy’s 1 million residential customers in the form of higher utility bills.

How the five elected members of the state Public Service Commission decide Wednesday on who pays for these cost overruns at the nuclear plant roughly across the river from the Bonnet Carré Spillway will set the precedent for what happens as the private utility embarks on a massive building campaign across Louisiana.

Tax task force seeks extension

A blue-ribbon task force tasked with making recommendations of changes to Louisiana’s tax structure is asking for a 30-day extension of time to finish its work because of the recent floods. The Task Force on Structural Changes in Budget and Tax Policy was supposed to finish its work by Sept. 1, but recently wrote House Speaker Taylor Barras asking for the extra time. The Advocate’s Elizabeth Crisp:

The Task Force had its latest meeting on Friday, during which leaders set the tone for the final stages of its work. It meets Monday through Wednesday next week. “We now have to decide which way we want to go and how far we will go,” said LSU economist Jim Richardson, one of the two co-chairmen of the task force. “Nothing will be easy. Everything easy has been done.”

Number of the Day

$71.6 billion – Increase in Americans’ personal income in July, which is 0.4 percent higher than the previous month. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).