Rep. Raymond Crews: Problems Not As Severe As the Governor Says

State Representative Raymond Crews talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the the budget passed by the House of Representatives and whether the claims of cuts to higher education and state hospitals are exaggerated.

Crews tells KEEL listeners that the Louisiana Department of Health, which oversees funding for the state's safety net hospitals, will receive $13 billion in the just passed budget, $4 billion more than just a couple of years ago. "They (LDH) have to decide how they're going to divvy that money up." The Bossier City rep continues, "They've gotten more money than they've had in the past. The problem is...with the Medicaid expansion, they're taking a lot of patients that they don't get reimbursed for in the same way as private insurance. There's a problem there. The reimbursement rates just aren't the same."

In reference to the possibility of cuts to various areas of state government, Crews says, "We have a conservative movement in the state. There's absolutely no way that people are going to open up their wallets without seeing what the implications are going to be."