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One Month In, Governor Is Content With Session Progress

Sue Lincoln

“You know, I’m happy with where we are at this point in the regular session.”

Governor John Bel Edwards sat down with the Capitol press corps Thursday, updating us on legislative happenings from his point of view.

“I like having a 3-month regular session, instead of a 3-week special session,” he said with a grin, then continued more seriously.

 “The pace allows for more discussion. It allows for more meetings and collaboration which is what I’ve told the people of Louisiana I really wanted to do. And so we’re taking advantage of that.”

One of the governor’s proposals – requiring co-pays from Medicaid patients seeking non-emergency treatment in an ER– was pulled from the House Health and Welfare committee docket Thursday.

“We lacked the support for the bill,” Edwards explained.

He noted that House Republicans had asked for something requiring co-pays if the state was going to implement Medicaid expansion, yet they’re the ones crawfishing now.  Edwards acknowledged part of the problem is that the task of collecting the co-pays will fall on the hospitals, but he says they’ll keep working on the issue.

I still think it’s the right thing to do. The co-pay for me is a way to not just promote individual responsibility, but to change behavior.”

The administration has started re-negotiating contracts with the private partner hospitals, in light of the budget crunch and the upcoming Medicaid expansion. They’ve also been working on a revised budget proposal, which was supposed to be presented today.

“Jay Dardenne’s appearance in front of the appropriations committee was moved from Friday to Tuesday,” the governor stated flatly.

So I asked the governor if he thinks the House has become more cooperative than they were during the special session.

“I’m optimistic about our ability to work together. Now, I’m not naïve. There’s a group of folks down there that if I propose it, they seem to receive it poorly,” Edwards explained. “But the good news is, that’s a very small percentage of folks. Sometimes they get more attention than they may deserve, simple because they’re…noisy.”