Legislators create panel to oversee Medicaid

Louisiana legislators have voted to form a joint committee of both houses focused solely on Medicaid oversight.
The state’s Medicaid program, funded by federal and state tax dollars, makes up close to half of Louisiana’s $30-billion-plus state budget. House Concurrent Resolution 6, which the state Senate adopted without objection Thursday, establishes the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee.
The committee will include 12 members, six from each body, drawn from existing committees focused on spending and health care. It would not have any authority the existing committees don’t have.
Critics of the idea say it only adds more bureaucracy to state government. But Rep. Rick Edmonds, the Baton Rouge Republican who sponsored the measure, said it could allow the participating legislators to become more familiar with the complex program and provide more focused oversight.
Edmonds tried to pass a similar resolution last year, which the House of Representatives approved before the Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted it down.
Concurrent resolutions express the will of both houses and are not subject to a governor’s veto.
Shortly after taking office, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed an executive order expanding Medicaid in the state under the Affordable Care Act. The Edwards administration has touted that expansion.