Beginning June 1, residents with a household income below 138 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible to get health coverage through the state’s Medicaid program.
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Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed into law a measure placing a one-year moratorium on pediatric day health care centers, not allowing any new ones into the state-funded program until July 2017.
The department is rewriting program regulations.
Governor Edwards signed his first executive order after taking office in January, expanding Medicaid coverage in Louisiana.
People can apply for coverage online at www.healthy.la.gov or by phone at 1-888-342-6207.
To be eligible for the program, applicants must fall between the ages of 19 and 64, not now receiving Medicare or Medicaid benefits, meet household income and citizenship requirements.
With Louisiana’s expansion, more than half the uninsured eligible for coverage under the federal health overhaul championed by President Barack Obama will live in states that have expanded Medicaid, said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
“We are going to improve health outcomes in Louisiana”.
Louisiana will begin to enrollment in Medicaid expansion on Wednesday.
The federal government approved the plan Tuesday, May 31. Jindal described the expansion as too costly and as growing an inefficient and outdated model of health care.
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The state expects to enroll 375,000 new adults in Medicaid as part of the expansion.
