Congressman Jefferson, Democratic Caucus to Request $300 Million for New Orleans Hospitals

Congressman Jefferson, Democratic Caucus to Request $300 Million for New Orleans Hospitals

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Representative William Jefferson (D-LA) held a briefing with Dr. Michael Butler, Chief Medical Officer of the Louisiana State University Hospital System, and Dr. William Pinsky, Executive Vice President of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, for a joint meeting between Members of the Democratic Caucus's Healthcare and Katrina Task Forces. Members committed to requesting an additional $300 million through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant program to rebuild the hospital system - money that will be critical to meeting the healthcare infrastructure needs of the New Orleans metropolitan area.

"Rebuilding our healthcare system is a top priority in our ability to repopulate the city," Jefferson said. "But it has not been a top priority for recovery funding thus far and it certainly should be. I am grateful to the Democratic Caucus for taking on this issue and I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to support our request and appropriate the critically-needed funds for our healthcare system now."

The Democratic Caucus will request that $300 million be allocated for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award HRSA grants to public hospitals, non-profit entities, and Medicare and Medicaid eligible suppliers and other healthcare suppliers for healthcare related expenses, property damage, or lost revenues from disaster-related public health emergencies. Democrats will request the funds in the hurricane supplemental spending bill that is currently in the Senate or an emergency spending measure in the upcoming Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriation bill.

After Katrina, the Louisiana State University Health Services Division was forced to lay off 4,000 doctors, nurses and other professionals as their New Orleans facilities closed due to the extensive damage they suffered. Ochsner Clinic Foundation is now caring for the uninsured and indigent patients that the LSU Health Services Division previously managed through University and Charity Hospitals; however, they do not have the infrastructure in place to continue. There simply are not enough hospital beds, medical supplies or healthcare professionals to meet the critical needs the New Orleans metro area now face. Rebuilding the healthcare infrastructure is also an important component to the overall economic development in the region, as the reinstatement of those 4,000 jobs lost could provide a much-needed boost for the city's tax base.

"Thirty-two days after 9/11, Congress appropriated $147 million in HRSA grants for an ‘expected' healthcare crisis," Jefferson said. "Now, we have an ongoing and urgent healthcare crisis affecting nearly a million people in and around the New Orleans metro area with no funds appropriated to meet their needs urgently and directly. The HRSA grant program can provide direct and immediate assistance to hospitals and healthcare providers so that they may urgently meet the needs of the vulnerable, uninsured or underinsured. Our healthcare system and our citizens need this money now. Congress must act now."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/la02_jefferson/JeffersonDemRequest1.html