[StBernard] Others Speak out on Jindal's DHH Record of Shame

[Westley Annis]

What Others Have to Say About Jindal's DHH 

Record of Shame 

Dr. Charles Vanchiere, American Academy of Pediatrics, on Jindal: "I was
glad when he left the state. He had his marching orders to get the money out
of Medicaid, which he did. But he did not have the life experiences to
understand the effects   of budgets on human misery." (A Young Man's Fancy
Turns To Medicare, Washington Post, 11/10/98)

Shreveport Times editorial on the state of Louisiana's health care system:
"And Bobby Jindal   will get to explain why the needle didn't move a whole
lot when he was running the Department of Health & Hospitals under Louisiana
Governor Mike Foster." (Editorial, Shreveport Times, 1/9/07)

Mimi Jackson, then-Louisiana Alliance for the Mentally Ill president, on
Jindal's cuts to health care: "This is a terrible situation for the mentally
ill and their Families. The state is not only effectively denying patients
critical medications, but inviting more serious and expensive problems that
could be avoided." (DHH  policy blocks medicine, group says, The Advocate,
12/20/96)

Jackson on Jindal's mental health cuts: "Despite the fact that this state
has had budget surpluses in a number of recent years, mental health funding
has been cut, cut, cut.  We warned that there would be more people needing
expensive hospitalizations because of the severe cuts in funding for
medication and doctor's services. It's happening as we speak. We have had
more suicides as well.  It appears to those who cannot speak up for
themselves because of the difficulty, stress and pain of schizophrenia,
severe depression, manic-depression (bipolar illness) and other very serious
brain disorders are being treated like the dog who is still being beaten
even though he has already expired." (Letter to the Editor, Times-Picayune,
2/11/97)

Don Buchanan, a spokesman for the Louisiana Health Care Authority, which
oversaw the Charity hospitals, on Jindal's cuts to the Charity system:
"We're talking about drastic steps. This compounds an already very serious
situation." (Needy Won't Lose Benefit; State To Keep Program Afloat,
Times-Picayune, 6/20/96)

Richard Clark, then-executive director of the Community and Residential
Services Association, on Jindal's cuts to private facilities for the
disabled: "Homes will close and the state will be saddled with the burden of
trying to deal with those additional clients.   Private providers are again
hamstrung in their efforts to more efficiently and economically serve
persons with developmental disabilities." (State cuts will hurt homes for
disabled, director says, The Advocate, 7/10/97) 

Hazel Wright of LaPlace, commenting on the Medically Needy program: "They
say we make too much money, but I don't see it. You have to eat and pay for
the medication and you still have all the bills to pay." Ms. Wright, 63
years old, had been twice hospitalized for a heart attack and surgery. Her
bills for just one hospital stay totaled $108,000. She may have qualified
for the Medically Needy Program, but Jindal had closed it to new recipients.
(In A Year, Medicaid Leaner, Stable; Top Health Cop Aims At Fraud,
Times-Picayune, 3/23/97)

Art Quiambao, a 63-year-old Louisiana citizen, had a heart attack in 1996,
began giving his nitroglycerin tablets to his wife for her heart ailments
because her pills were too expensive. She had been eligible for Medicaid,
but was not after Jindal toughened the eligibility rules. Quiambao said:
"I'm just taking less (nitroglycerin tablets). They say that if you do
exercise it will help." (In A Year, Medicaid Leaner, Stable; Top Health Cop
Aims At Fraud, Times-Picayune, 3/23/97) 

Shannon Robshaw, former executive director of the Mental Health Association
in Louisiana: "We still have a system that when (Jindal) came in he said he
would treat differently and he has not done that. He came in talking about
this stuff, but when you look at the results, specifically in mental health,
it just hasn't happened." (In A Year, Medicaid Leaner, Stable; Top Health
Cop Aims At Fraud, Times-Picayune, 3/23/97)

Vicki Brown Johnston of Baton Rouge, writing about Jindal's closing of the
inpatient adolescent care unit in the Greenwell Springs Hospital: "These
troubled children will become the next generation of unemployable homeless,
if left untreated by an uncaring society. Of course, these children are not
voters yet, and are left out of the political process in determining our
state budget. (Jindal) also stated that the adolescents wouldn't be hurt by
closing the unit at the hospital, because there are facilities in New
Orleans and Hammond. These families are under enough pressures, without
having to leave their own communities to get care. These out-of-town
facilities will be under their own financial demands, without adding to
them. I'm very afraid these children will receive no care if it's
unavailable in their own community ." (Greenwell Springs Hospital, The
Advocate, 4/15/96)

Dr. Michael Ellis of the Louisiana State Medical Society, addressing how
cuts in Medicaid payments to doctors hurt patients: "With what I'm going to
get paid for them, I can't pay my office overhead. We all see (Medicaid
patients) to some degree, but we don't want to open the floodgates." (La.
Medicaid cuts implemented, The Advocate, 7/2/96)

Louisiana Nursing Home Association Executive Director Joe Donchess, on
Jindal's nursing home cuts: "If the department wants to start off hurting
the sickest of the sick, poorest of the poor, oldest of the old, they are
right on target."(Officials target nursing home Medicaid funds, The
Advocate, 2/14/96)

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