An activist with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry slammed Gov. John Bel Edwards over his administration's handling of Medicaid contracts after one company was left out of the renewal process.
The Edwards administration selected four out of five managed care contracts with organizations that were set to expire this year to be subject for renewal. The largest contractor, Louisiana Healthcare Connections (LHCC), was excluded.
Lane Grigsby, chairman of the board of Cajun Contractors and chairman emeritus of LABI's board of directors, said to the Louisiana Record, “The safe has been opened, and everybody who wants to pillage and rob it has been walking through the door and taking what they want. There’s no control, there’s no process.”
The action was initially reported in a letter sent to Edwards from Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-New Orleans) on Aug. 9. Richmond expressed worries that the roughly 675 LHCC employees will lose their jobs if the company contract is not renewed.
LHCC provides Medicaid coverage for an estimated 444,000 people, which makes up about 26 percent of all Medicaid managed care patients currently using the service in the state.
Grigsby said the only way to solve the issue is to vote in a new governmental administration.
“I’ll guarantee you, if you leave the system as exactly as its presently comprised, you’ll get exactly the same results,” Grigsby said. “So if you don’t want to change the governor out, you are going to have more of what we got so far.”
The contracts allow the state of Louisiana to oversee health coverage that is financed by government.