Louisiana needs healthcare help,
and we’re here to do more than just talk.

Thanks to the leadership of our U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D), and to the support of Congressman Charles Melancon (D-3CD) and Anh Cao (R-2CD), Louisiana is taking significant steps towards building a healthier state.

It is our opinion, that the easiest way to improve our health status is to enroll all those who are eligible in government assistance programs, which make medicines and medical care affordable and accessible.

Therefore, when our congressional leadership helped President Barack Obama reauthorize the School Children’s Health Insurance Program, more than 80,000 Louisiana children became eligible for very low-cost health coverage. That brings the total of Louisiana children eligible for coverage in this program to more than 235,000.

We still have to work to find these 82,100 children but the State’s LACHIP program has been very aggressive and successful in doing so, literally going door-to-door in some communities.
A partnership of healthcare providers, led by the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) and LouisianaAnswers.com, is now trying to find 20,000 seniors and adults with disabilities who are eligible for Medicare Part D’s Low Income Subsidy. This program makes prescriptions available for $1 to $3 or less.

The partnership seeking to enroll these individuals supports the philosophy offered by former Congressman Billy Tauzin, now the head of PhRMA, a trade organization for the nation’s drug manufacturers and researchers.

“No one – and I mean no one – is helped by a medicine that sits on the shelf and is out of reach financially. In Louisiana, we will continue to help folks all over the state for as long as the assistance is needed,” said Mr. Tauzin.

Part of that help comes from the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, which includes LaCHIP, SHIIP and LouisianaAnswers.com as its partners. This collaboration is part of the reason the Louisiana Health Access Network is dialoguing with healthcare providers, patients and business groups about how to get Louisiana residents insured and how to promote healthier, disease-prevention strategies.

“With the number of people affected by chronic disease going up every year, and economists predicting that unemployment will continue to grow well into 2009, our coalition’s message of hope is now more relevant than ever,” State Network Director Marseah Delatte said.
Conversations about meaningful healthcare reform are being held in communities around Louisiana. Contact Ms. Delatte at (504) 897-6152 to see how you can participate.

For information on state health programs, see below: