Mass. GOP upset victory means more doubt for La. Medicaid money but Landrieu holds on to hope

US Sen. Landrieu holds out hope for Medicaid fix

NEW ORLEANS — Sen. Mary Landrieu defended the Senate’s version of health care overhaul legislation — and language in it that provides up to $365 million in Medicaid money for Louisiana — as she discussed what her fellow Democrats should do after losing a crucial Senate seat to a Massachusetts Republican.

With state Sen. Scott Brown’s victory Tuesday in the race to fill out the term of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Republicans will have 41 seats in the Senate, enough to block votes on the health care plan.

Landrieu told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that efforts to reach a consensus on health care should continue. She said she still favors the Senate version, which does not contain a government-run insurance plan backed by the House. She said she still hopes the Medicaid money for Louisiana will be included in a final version of health care legislation.

“I am very comfortable with the Senate version of this bill, which is not a government takeover, which is a public-private response to a major problem, which has some significant cost-containment measures, which strengthens Medicare and gives the private sector more affordable options,” Landrieu said. A recording of her remarks was provided by her office.

Landrieu announced her support for the Senate health care measure last month after the Medicaid provision, which has been estimated in value at from $100 million to $365 million for Louisiana over the next two years, was included in the bill. It led to accusations from conservatives opposed to the bill that she traded her vote, and the money was dubbed the “Louisiana Purchase” by some critics.

“There were special deals done. This is not one of them,” Landrieu said. “A special deal, to me, is a deal that has limited merit. It applies to only one state and there’s no precipitating reason to ask for it.”

Without Landrieu’s language, Louisiana’s federal assistance for Medicaid will be cut because the state’s post-Hurricane Katrina economic surge temporarily drove up average income in the state because of government aid and high-paying reconstruction jobs. The federal share of Medicaid aid is higher for states with lower average incomes. State officials have argued the state shouldn’t be penalized for an artificial, temporary per-capita income boost.

“Louisiana only asked to stay where we were; to have the same payment schedule that we’ve always had,” Landrieu said.

Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration and much of the state congressional delegation have publicly sought a fix to the temporary drop in federal Medicaid match money for Louisiana, though Jindal and most of the state’s congressmen oppose the Democrat’s health care bill.

Jindal’s health secretary, Alan Levine, said if the Medicaid money doesn’t get approved because the health care bill stalls, he’s hoping Louisiana’s congressional delegation will try to get the money through another piece of legislation — and he said he’d prefer it that way.

Levine said his budget recommendations for the upcoming 2010-11 fiscal year don’t include assumptions that the state will get the extra federal Medicaid money.

Whether any health care legislation will pass was thrown into question with Brown’s upset victory Tuesday. While Landrieu supports the Senate version, Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, has adamantly opposed it as too expensive, saying it will require cuts to Medicare and increases in taxes. In the House the entire Louisiana delegation, including the lone Democrat, Rep. Charlie Melancon, voted against the latest House version of the bill — except for Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao of New Orleans. Cao was the only Republican in the House to vote for that chamber’s bill. And he says he cannot support the Senate version favored by Landrieu because it doesn’t contain strong enough language forbidding federal funding of abortion.

Vitter posted a video on his Web site Wednesday saying “the country scored a major victory with the election of Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts,” saying it showed Massachusetts’ voters are “fed up with this sort of deal making and ugly politics of the Obama administration.”

Vitter said he was starting a petition drive to have Brown seated right away.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also pledged Wednesday to seat Brown immediately, a retreat from pre-election Democratic threats to delay his swearing-in until after the health bill passed.

Landrieu said Brown’s victory showed that the Obama administration and Democrats have overreached with health care, and so-called “cap and trade” climate legislation. The party needs to scale back ambitious plans and concentrate its efforts on job creation and deficit reduction, she said.

Associated Press Writer Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge contributed to this story.