Health Care Budget Cuts Begin This Week

The state's Medicaid hospice care received a last-minute reprieve from shutdown, but Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration is moving ahead with other health care cuts this week.

Slated for elimination are programs that provide behavioral health intervention services for at-risk children and that pay for at-home visits by nurses who teach low-income, first-time mothers how to care for their newborns.

The Medicaid program will no longer cover physical therapy and speech therapy rehabilitation services in nursing homes. Hospitals and some types of doctors will be paid less when they care for Medicaid patients.

The cuts begin Friday, part of a series of Jindal administration reductions to close a midyear budget deficit.

Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein says in many instances, people can get the care through other government-funded programs.