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PATTERSON — Louisiana residents are seeing steep increases in their insurance costs. And so are local governments.
The Patterson City Council on Tuesday got a heads-up about a 12.8% increase in premiums required to provide health insurance for city government employees.
Also Tuesday, the council voted to seek a loan through a program that might provide the city’s match for nearly $7.4 million in state capital outlay funding for water and sewer improvements.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana has notified Patterson that its premiums will go up 12.8% for the next year, Chief Financial Officer Reginal Weary told the council on Tuesday.
That follows last year’s 14.2% increase, Weary said.
The city government pays 75% of the cost of health insurance for long-serving employees. For newer employees, the city pays for 75% of individual insurance and 50% for families.
Weary suggested that the council might want to explore options such as higher co-pays or high-deductible coverage with health savings accounts.
Mayor Rodney Grogan noted that its broker for property coverage shops for the best rates from multiple companies.
“I think our carrier should be fighting for us,” Grogan said.
The council took no action on employee health insurance at Tuesday’s meeting.
The St. Mary Parish School Board last month voted to renew Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage for employees with a 16% increase in premiums.
Infrastructure loan
The council voted for a resolution authorizing an application for a loan under the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund, a state-federal program designed to support improvements in local water systems.
The state capital budget for this year awarded $5 million to Patterson for upgrades in its new water plant sought by the Louisiana Department of Health. The state also awarded Patterson about $2.4 million for upgrades in nine sewer system pump stations.
But the money requires a match from the city of 25%, which would total $1.25 million for the water system funding.
The revolving fund offers loans at 2.45% interest for up to 30 years, and 30% of the principal repayment up to $200,000 can be forgiven, according to the program’s website.
The program’s Facebook page reports loans of $6 million for the Ward 2 Water District in Livingston Parish, $4.24 million for West Feliciana Parish and $3.5 million for the Catahoula Parish village of Harrisonburg, all since March.
Also Tuesday:
—The council approved the appointment of Tempest Jackson to the Patterson Housing Authority board. Jackson will replace LaToya Darnell, who resigned.
—Patterson’s Morey Park will be the starting point for the Puttin’ on the Pink walk and run beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The event, a project of Roots and Ribbons, will raise money to support breast cancer patients and survivors in the local area.
—The Patterson Volunteer Fire Department will have an open house 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. The event will feature kitchen fire and extrication demonstrations, food and drink, and drawings for giveaways.

Local people will have a chance to view the Oct. 14 partial eclipse of the sun and science demonstrations at Thibodaux First Assembly Church on La. 3185.

This will be an annular eclipse, known as the Ring of Fire.

The first apparent contact of the moon with the sun will be at 10:34 a.m. The maximum partial eclipse will be at 12:01 p.m., when the moon occludes 72% of the sun’s disk.

First Assembly will open the doors to its lobby so that restrooms will be available.

Also at the site will be activities for children, including a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Day. Hands-on demonstrations will include a vacuum chamber, a Fresnel lens, mirrors, liquid nitrogen, atmospheric pressure, surface tension, meteorites, a spud gun, a trebuchet and microscopes.

There will also be a Lakota Sioux tipi, 18 feet in diameter at its base.

The event will be weather permitting. Overcast and rain will stop the event. But there is no charge, and you and your family are invited.

Lawmakers working to address the state’s mental health crisis heard from various medical professionals on issues feeding the problem.
Members of the House Committee on Health and Welfare’s Subcommittee on Mental Health continued efforts to understand the factors driving the mental health crisis that has accelerated with the pandemic and possible action lawmakers can take to counter the trend.
The meeting featured testimony from representatives from nearly a dozen professional organizations, from the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners to the Louisiana Psychological Association.
Roy Salgado, chair of the Licensed Professional Counselor Board of Examiners, and others highlighted medical insurance issues that prohibit residents from receiving mental health care services.
It’s a similar issue with provisionally licensed mental health counselors and marriage or family therapists, which number about 1,900 statewide.
“The issue is they currently do not get reimbursed through third-party payers, so it makes it a little difficult for employers, agencies, hospitals, clinics to hire them because there is no reimbursement,” Salgado said.
“The work provided by provisionally licensed mental health professionals (overseen by doctors) is generally not reimbursable by Medicaid,” he said. “If you were to change this with a stroke of a pen we would immediately increase access to care for residents who rely on Medicaid by approximately 1,900 providers.”
Karen Lyon, executive director for the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, explained that the six graduate programs in the state that offer psychiatric mental health training for advanced practice registered nurses are struggling to fill instructor positions due to many leaving the field following the pandemic.
Currently, only about 6% of the roughly 7,000 practicing advanced practice registered nurses, or about 425, are certified in psychiatric mental health nursing, she said.
Many of the most experienced over 65 are “now … beginning to retire and resign and they’re not renewing their licenses,” Lyon said. “The good news is we have increased enrollments in nursing schools, but of course we have the challenge of not having enough nursing faculty.”
Other issues highlighted revolved around funding for parish coroners, who serve as the safety net for those suffering a mental health crisis. Gerry Cvitanovich, the Jefferson Parish coroner and president of the Louisiana State Coroner’s Association, told the committee that requests for protective custody orders that trigger a mental evaluation have increased from 416 in Jefferson Parish five years ago to 663 last year.
“Those numbers are concerning,” he said. “A lot of this does fall on the coroners for evaluation.”
Chuck Credo, attorney for the coroner’s association, noted the situation puts added financial stress on parishes because “there’s absolutely no state funding for any coroner’s office on any level.”
The result is the loss of 11 non-term-limited coroners in the last election cycle who “simply gave up,” he said.
Still other funding issues revolved around “cost prohibitive” reimbursement rates through Medicaid and Medicare for proper psychological testing if the services are approved. Oftentimes, especially for children, they’re not, said Jesse Lambert, president of the Louisiana Psychological Association.
“We have seen a rather large exodus of not only psychologists but clinicians in general leave Medicaid because the reimbursement rates are cost prohibitive,” he said.
Psychology interns and externs, those preparing for licensure through required training, also cannot bill for services, which imposes constraints on training programs that have resulted in closures, Lambert said.

Have you heard about the Acadiana state Senate race where one of the candidates has been accused of setting fire to a family of dogs in a sugar cane field? 

What about the New Orleans House race that has pulled Gov. John Bel Edwards out of early retirement and into a Democratic free-for-all?

Then there’s another Senate race, over in Jefferson Parish, hosting a candidate who’s a sitting mayor — and the target of an unfolding media investigation into local land deals.

All over Louisiana there are intriguing political story lines emerging from races for the state House and Senate. And unless you live in these areas, it’s unlikely you’re up to speed with some of the best (and the worst) political drama from the current election cycle. 

In the Senate, 20 of the chamber’s districts have already been filled due to uncontested elections. Another 19 districts, however, have contested races this fall.

In the House of Representatives, the Legislature’s lower chamber, 48 districts already have elected officials ready to be sworn into office. Another 57 have active contests.

Republicans are expected to secure supermajorities in both the Senate and the House. As such, many of these contested races pit Republicans versus other Republicans in battles to prove who’s more conservative. 

Such an electoral skirmish is playing out in Senate District 22, in Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry and St. Martin parishes. That’s where House Majority Leader Blake Miguez and local farmer Hugh Andre are dividing Acadiana’s political class. 

Adding to the nasty tone of this race last week was a direct mail piece from the Louisiana Committee for a Conservative Majority, which is backing Miguez. The mailer accused Andre of setting “fire to a dog and her eight puppies in his cane field.”

The source for the mailer was a story published by The Hayride, a conservative news outlet. 

Andre, who campaigns with his own dog, Murphy Mae, has explained to voters the field was burned out of necessity, for his farming business, and he did his best for a week and a half to relocate the dogs that were ultimately burned. 

Further proving this race has really going to the dogs, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy said in an endorsement video that Miguez is the right candidate and would protect voters from bad government or, as Kennedy put it, a “Great Dane size whiz down the leg.”

In southeastern Louisiana, the battle for Seat District 8, pitting incumbent Sen. Pat Connick against Jean Lafitte Mayor Timothy Kerner Jr. (the son of the state representative by the same name), is ripping through Jefferson Parish like a Category 3 storm surge.

The latest personality influencing this contest is Fox 8’s Lee Zurik, who dropped a bombshell last week suggesting the “business ties of (the) Lafitte mayor raise ethical questions.” 

The Kerners were silent partners in a building acquisition — a building located across the street from Jean Lafitte’s town hall, according to Zurik’s reporting. The contractors involved in the deal also received government work from the town, and the property in question was sold at a $101,000 markup.

The mayor agreed to be interviewed, then couldn’t be located for the interview, so a spokesperson scheduled another interview with Fox 8, but the mayor changed his mind again.
In nearby St. Tammany Parish, the open race for House District 89 has surprisingly pulled in a political superstar. After all, it’s not everyday the U.S. House majority leader plays in a race for state representative.

But that’s the case over on the Northshore, where Congressman Steve Scalise has cut an endorsement video for Kim Carver, who has cemented his place as the leading candidate. 

Not to be outdone, Gov. John Bel Edwards is coming off the bench to influence another race, over in New Orleans’ House District 91.

The engagement from the governor was unexpected, especially since he has more or less shut down his own political operations as his time in office draws to a close.

Edwards endorsed the challenger in this race, Madison O’Malley. Telling The Advocate what she thought of the governor’s decision, New Orleans Rep. Mandie Landry remarked,

“What an embarrassment to our state.” Landry is pushing to make abortion and “anti-choice” an issue during the final stretch.

Further north, in Monroe’s Senate District 33, Senate Agriculture Chair Stewart Cathey is under fire by a well-funded independent expenditure group named Watchdog PAC. The group has put its “Crooked Cathey” theme on television, billboards and mail. 

“It’s despicable, but what else can you expect?” Cathey told The News-Star’s Greg Hilburn. 

Challenger Ned White has been able to steer clear of hard attacks thanks to Watchdog PAC, which is in the process dropping new mail in the district this week.

If you want to learn more about the Legislature’s various districts around the state, visit www.Legis.La.Gov. If you want to learn more about the corresponding elections on the fall ballot, check out www.SOS.La.Gov.

For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow.