La. Democratic leader blasts Jindal, Vitter and Cassidy on Medicaid

Published Jul 16, 2012 at 3:00 pm (Updated Jul 16, 2012)

State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, chairwoman of the Louisiana Democratic Party, says Gov. Bobby Jindal's refusal to work with the federal government on health care reform shows Jindal is putting politics above governing. "He says he has the job he wants," she says. "He needs to act like it." Peterson spoke today to the Baton Rouge Press Club at a luncheon held a few blocks away from a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney that Jindal was expected to attend. Jindal's refusal to expand Medicaid under the terms of the Affordable Care Act denies coverage for 366,000 Louisiana adults who would be eligible while potentially denying the state $7.2 billion in federal funds, Peterson says. Jindal and other Republicans say the act will cost too much and make health care in America worse. Peterson criticized Jindal for not lobbying Republican leaders in Congress against Medicaid cuts tacked onto a highway bill that will cost the state about $859 million and "may well be the death warrant for hospitals across this state." Peterson also blamed Republican Sen. David Vitter, who was the only Louisiana member on the conference committee that finalized the bill. "Has there ever been a time in Louisiana history when a U.S. senator from our state has allowed such harm to be inflicted on our state when he or she had the power to prevent it?" she says. "Unprecedented." Peterson claimed U.S. House Republicans Bill Cassidy and Steve Scalise "did nothing" to fight the cuts. —David Jacobs