Can you believe the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) is thinking about cutting daycare for medically fragile children, health care for disabled adults and programs letting the elderly live at home rather than in a nursing home?

Yes, that is what health officials told the House Appropriations Committee could be chopped if budget cuts for fiscal year 2024-25 become a reality next year. Cutting the $105 million in state funds needed to provide those services would also cause the loss of $332 million in federal funds.

The Advocate’s report of the committee’s meeting said some members of the committee and others were shocked to hear the news.

Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, said, “These are people that depend on us for their life. I’m appalled by this list.”

Bagley added, “The new members (of the Legislature), they have no idea what it’s like to have a room full of mad, angry parents here and telling their stories about how their child is probably gonna die within a year if they don’t get help.”

I have sat in on many of those kinds of meetings over the many years I covered the Legislature. The crowds were sometimes so large that the disabled and individuals in wheelchairs had a terrible time trying to make their way to the meetings.

Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, and vice chairman of the budget committee, said, “I’m all for efficiency. This represents devastation. The people that are primarily impacted are children and seniors.”

Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, said people shouldn’t panic because it was just the first committee meeting with the health department. However, even Bacala pressed health officials to find other ways to make budget cuts.

Bacala suggested alternatives that are “less painful to the little guy who maybe has a special-needs child, but who doesn’t have the political clout of some of the bigger organizations.”

Tory Rocca is director of public policy and community engagement at Disability Rights Louisiana, which advocates for policies that help those with disabilities remain in their homes.

Rocca said cutting those services would return people now at home to institutions. And pay cuts for health workers would impact care for people with developmental or adult-onset disabilities.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, and appropriations committee chairman, said budget cuts “can have a real-world impact on people’s lives” and the health department plan illustrates “the complexity of addressing a budget shortfall.”

One of those budget cuts would affect the Adult Day Health Care Waiver program, which pays for daytime care for disabled people. Another impacts the Long Term Services and Supports program, which pays for long-term care for those with disabilities and chronic illness.

Third is the Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which provides nursing-facility-level care for the elderly in their homes. And the loss of  recent pay increases for health care workers affects everyone they serve.

Louisiana has approximately 2 million people, 44% of the population, on Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for low-income citizens. For the current fiscal year, 91% of the health department’s $19.9 billion budget goes toward Medicaid.

Michael Harrington, secretary of LDH, said about 70% of his department’s funding comes from the federal government, with just $3.2 billion coming from the state’s general fund. That is another reason for avoiding those unacceptable health care cuts.

Next year’s budget shortfall is expected to be $587 million, which includes $247 million for the $2,000 stipends for teachers and $1,000 stipends for school support workers. Both groups would prefer that those were permanent pay increases, but they still need and deserve the stipends.

Some legislators are looking at taking back some of the vehicle sales tax money that is going for roads and bridges. With a $20 billion backlog in infrastructure work, that is also a bad idea.

All of this undesirable health care budget cutting is because legislators don’t have the courage to renew a less than half-cent state sales tax and a 2% sales tax on business utilities.

The citizens of this state have been paying the sales tax increase since 2018 that was passed by Republican and Democratic legislators to shore up the state budget. Legislators should renew those taxes to balance the budget again.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.