[StBernard] Bobby Jindal: From McKinsey to McNiece

[Westley Annis]

>From McKinsey to McNiece


 

How Bobby Jindal personally tried to take control over determining who would
receive Medicaid funding, how he got shut down and why we need to see "The
Plan."

 

For Immediate Release                                                      

 

September 19, 2007

 

Baton Rouge: In August of 1998, Bobby Jindal's attempt to take control over
the distribution of Medicaid funds in the state of Louisiana was thwarted by
a ruling of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of
Louisiana. Prior to this ruling, Jindal was arguing that as Secretary of
Health and Hospitals he could "independently decide that an applicant did
not need a nursing home and could refuse to fund the placement through
Medicaid." 

 

The applicant in question was John McNiece, who had spent the past eight
years in nursing facilities and had been determined to be mentally ill
through an independent evaluation by the Louisiana Office of Mental Health
and thus eligible for Medicaid funding to provide for nursing home care. 

 

Jindal was seeking to circumvent federal law that provided specifically for
a separation between the state Medicaid agency and the agencies responsible
for determining who qualified for Medicaid funds, in this instance the state
office of Mental Health. Had he been successful in his defense, Jindal could
have proceeded to directly control who qualified and did not qualify for
certain Medicaid funds. 

 

"This was a personal power grab on the part of Bobby Jindal to be able to
determine who would get Medicaid funds and who would not," State Senator
Walter Boasso (D-Arabi), Democratic candidate for Governor said. "Had he
been successful, he very likely would have been able to ignore the will of
all of the state's medical agencies and cut funds for patients without any
fear of being overruled." 

 

"Make no mistake, Bobby Jindal fought for this ruling tooth and nail. He did
it because he wanted the power to make decisions, like the one he made for
Mr. McNiece, across the board. He wanted to be able to personally cut off
Medicaid funds without anyone in the way to stop him. 

 

After being ejected from his nursing facility, John McNiece wandered the
streets of New Orleans East and Chalmette for nearly two weeks before he was
finally located.

 

"This sort of thinking and arrogance, especially from someone who was only
in his middle twenties at the time, is truly amazing," Boasso said. "That we
had an individual with no real life experience trying desperately to have
total control over the lives of physically and mentally ill patients to the
point that he, and he alone, could decide their fate, is chilling." 

 

At the age of 24, Bobby Jindal was appointed by then Governor Mike Foster to
head up the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

 

He won the roll by impressing Foster with a 25 page plan that he had brought
with him from his job as a Senior Consultant with the McKinsey Company,
where he had worked for the past 18 months.

 

The same McKinsey Company who during that same time had just presented
Allstate Insurance with a plan for how to maximize profits, a plan that
resulted in the increase of Allstate's profits from $82 million a year to
$2.4 billion. The plan was simple. Stop paying claims. 

 

Jindal's plan has not been seen.

 

"The question that hangs out there is whether this plan, coming from a
consulting firm that we know put profits over the suffering of people,
provided for the level of control that young Bobby Jindal was trying so hard
to get," Boasso said. "It is time for Bobby Jindal to show the rest of us
this plan so we can see whether he was following the same philosophy. 

 

"I am calling on Bobby Jindal to release that plan so we can see it with our
own eyes."

 

"This is not just about Mr. McNiece," Boasso said. "This is about the
thousands and thousands of Louisiana residents who would have been denied
access to care had Bobby gained the power he was looking for. And, at the
end of the day, this is about how Bobby plans to run the state of Louisiana
if he is given that power." 

 

 

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