Louisiana health insurance

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status report:
Louisiana state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Louisiana state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Louisiana officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (6)

• Rodney Alexander
• Charles Boustany

• Bill Cassidy
• John Fleming

• Jeff Landry
• Steve Scalise

Our
Pick

No (1)

• Cedric Richmond

how healthy is living in Louisiana?

Louisiana has dropped two rankings from last year and is now ranked as the 49th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Louisiana was praised in 2010 for high rates of early prenatal care (86.8 of pregnant women received care within their first trimester of pregnancy) and a high rate of immunization coverage as well (93.2 percent of children 19 to 35 months old received their immunizations).
• The state also demonstrated a relatively high level of public health care funding, at $95 per capita.
• The rate of children in poverty decreased over the past year from 23.3 percent to 19.5 percent of the population under the age of 18.

The bad news:

• Louisiana's challenges include a low high school graduation rate (61.3 percent of ninth graders graduated in their four years), numerous incidences of infectious disease (23.8 cases per 100,000 population), and high rates of preventable hospitalizations and infant mortality.
• Louisiana also shows high rates of deaths due to cancer and cardiovascular disease.
• Obesity has increased in Louisiana from 28.9 to 33.9 percent of the population since 2009.
• Geographic disparity has climbed to 11.2 percent in the last five years.

Louisiana’s best and worst category rankings:

• Early prenatal care – 6th
• Immunization coverage – 8th
• Death due to cardiovascular disease (334.8 per 100,000 residents) – 47th
• Death due to cancer (220.1 per 100,000 pop.) – 48th
• Prevalence of obesity – 49th
• Premature death – 49th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Louisiana.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Louisiana health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Louisiana here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Louisiana, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Louisiana have a health insurance high risk pool?

Louisiana Health Plan
Toll-free 1-800-736-0947 or (504) 926-6245

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Louisiana started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Louisiana's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Louisiana

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Louisiana and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Louisiana.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Louisiana health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Louisiana.

Health insurance plan report cards for Louisiana

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Louisiana health insurance plan report cards.

Louisiana government health insurance resources

Louisiana Department of Insurance/Health Insurance – has descriptions of specific divisions and programs within the Department of Insurance that specifically deal with health insurance issues – each listing has several contacts listed.

• The department publishes this PDF consumer guide to individual health insurance in Louisiana.
• The Senior Health Insurance Information Program is for Louisiana residents who have reached retirement age.
• File a complaint against an insurance company doing business in Louisana. Here's a PDF guide on how to file a complaint.

Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals – A 2005 report in PDF on health insurance in Louisiana.

Louisiana Children's Health Insurance Program (LaCHIP) – provides no-cost health insurance to low-income children, including dental care. Includes doctor charges, hospitalization, immunization and other services.