Bobby Jindal’s delusions continue

Several months ago the Bureau of Governmental Research invited President Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, to be its guest speaker at its 2014 Annual Luncheon held in New Orleans last Thursday.

In Jindal’s usual rude, condescending style, he issued a press release interpreted by some as rather sophomoric in criticizing Mr. Duncan’s visit.  He tried to portray it as a political stunt by the president in light of Mary Landrieu’s recent defeat, when in fact it was BGR that extended the invitation months ago.

What was particularly amusing about Bobby’s verbal tantrum was the following statement:

“So we have to wonder- is the President sending Secretary Duncan here to double down on these failed policies and bully us into federal overreach and the Obama’s top-down education agenda?  Or is he going to reach across the aisle and offer to work with the majority of Louisianians who support Louisiana’s successful, (my italics) bottom-up approach to education…..”

Our Rhodes Scholar governor’s “ successful , bottom-up approach to education”  includes:

Cutting financial monies to higher education by $1 billion in six years

Students performing in reading and math skills at the 48^th and 50^th ranking, respectively, in the nation

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation awarding Louisiana an ‘F’ for how students fare academically based on dollars spent,  and  readiness for college and careers, and international competitiveness.

 

Louisiana given a ‘D plus’ by the same organization on the validity of its present state-developed math and English exams as compared to NATIONAL assessments

 

The state’s most recent average ACT scores, a national test of college readiness measuring English, math, science and reading skills given to both private and public high school seniors and juniors, dropping yet again, during Jindal’s tenure, with only North Carolina, Hawaii and Mississippi having lower scores

It’s too bad that Governor Bobby Jindal has drastically cut money for mental health services, for he is clearly in need of some sort of treatment for his mental delusions regarding his perceived successful educational reform in our state and his thoughts about the majority of Louisiana citizens supporting it.

 

 

Is Kristy Nichols over her head when it comes to fiscal management?

 

In October, 2012 Jindal hired Kristy Nichols as Commissioner of Administration for the state of Louisiana.

If you think that title is rather ambiguous, the educational qualifications for the job are even more confusing.  Apparently all one needs is loyal service to Jindal and a B.A. in business administration, with a master’s degree in communications thrown in for good luck.

Further adding to this confusion are the job responsibilities as defined on the state’s website. These include,  “(The) performing (of) a wide variety of legislatively mandated activities and other required functions of state government, including overseeing the general management of all state finances and financial operations; preparing the Executive Budget and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR); ensuring general fiscal accountability throughout state government; making purchases for state agencies when required by executive order; controlling and assigning state surplus property; providing and assigning state owned and leased facilities to state agencies; maintaining travel regulations for state officials and employees; conducting such planning activities as are necessary to maximize the present and future effectiveness of state government; and administering Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Funds.”

Seems like a tough job for one person, requiring only minimalistic job qualifications, and so far our commissioner, Kristy Nichols, isn’t measuring up to the task too successfully.   Each year, since employed, she has presented unrealistic budget estimates which have resulted in our legislators passing budgets funded with monies that never materialized.  This has repeatedly lead to mid-year budget cuts for state entities, the latest one occurring in November of this year.

Apparently even our astute legislators don't trust her budget proposals because last year they questioned using hundreds of millions in property sales and other one-time money to plug the 2013-14 budget. However, Nichols casually assured them, "We have not put anything in the budget that isn't expected to fully materialize."

Well, that wasn't the case, which lead to Nichols having to borrow $70 million in so-called "seed money" from state Treasurer John Kennedy's office to help the state's universities survive the fiscal year.

Additionally, in January of this year, after state revenue projections dropped by $34.7 million, Nichols announced a government hiring freeze through June, 2015.  Ironically, this was followed by a no bid contractual hiring of Alvarez and Marsal for $4.2 million to find ways for the state to come up with $500 million. But the state's budget wasn't in trouble, Nichols promised.

"We are confident that the Louisiana economy is growing," Nichols said, "and we believe revenue will grow with it."   However, revenues didn't grow as she predicted and now the Jindal administration will have to reduce spending for the NEXT seven months by 171 million.  This dire edict announced after she claimed in May that the state had a $175.5 million surplus, which turned out to be unsubstantiated.

With the state facing even bigger financial problems,  due to the decline in the price of a barrel of oil, do we really want Nichols to continue to call the shots with the track record she has already amassed?

Then again, maybe Nichols is just what we need to finally undermine Jindal’s chances for a presidential bid.  If she ends up helping to bankrupt the state, that wouldn’t reflect too well on Bobby’s national image.

But until that happens legislators had better get used to our communications major’s catch phrase, “La. Revenues not as high as anticipated.”

Jindal continues to waste taxpapers' money

Friday, Bobby Jindal announced how he will once again deal with budget shortfalls totaling over $171 million. We should be immune to this behavior by now for it has been repeated 5 of the 6 years Jindal has been in office.

What Bobby did not tell you is how this shortfall could have been eliminated if he and his legislative minions hadn’t wasted taxpayers’ monies in pursuing one of his privatization of health care services deals, just to save face.

In 2012, the Jindal administration decided to reorganize the way behavioral health services were being delivered to our citizenry.  He privatized the services with a company known as Magellan Health Services for an initial two year contract totaling $357.6 million.  In August, 2013 a state audit report determined that the company had not complied with the contractual terms.  As part of that contract the state Department of Health and Hospitals had the right to impose financial sanctions for non-compliance, but the auditors also found that the state had imposed NONE.

Despite the negative audit of the Magellan privatization plan, Jindal and our astute legislators in February, 2014, extended the Magellan contract another year to February, 2015, and increased it by $187.2 million without any supportive justification.  This to a company deemed out of contract compliance by state auditors a year earlier.

Fast forward to November 21, 2014, when the media reports that the Magellan Health Services contract is being terminated with the state.  Kathy Kliebert, the director of the state Department of Health and Hospitals claims the reason for this action is that, “(Magellan) was not an acute health-care provider.”

I guess that means Magellan couldn’t provide the services as mandated in the initial contract.

However, it appears that all involved parties at the state level already knew this after the initial audit report in 2013, and instead of not renewing the contact in 2014, extended the contract and increased the amount to $544.8 million.

Why would our esteemed leaders make such a blatantly obvious poor business decision?

Perhaps, if they had logically acted on the supportive evidence and killed the contract, this would have highlighted the fact that part of Bobby’s privatization plan of health care services was a failure. Consequently, to avoid such an embarrassment, Bobby and the legislators just dumbed more taxpayers’ money into the contract in hopes that things would improve and Bobby’s plan would ultimately prevail.

Friday, I couldn’t wait to see where Bobby would cut back to address the latest shortage.  However, the $171 million that he seeks was already available in February in the amount of $187.2 million, the additional funds given to a company not in contract compliance.

But, as in the past, Governor Jindal will use funding sweeps, a practice in which he and state lawmakers take monies that are dedicated by vote of Louisiana residents for a specific purpose and use it instead to address the state's general budget, and further reduce supportive services for Louisiana residents, to plug his budget holes.

The really sad part is the present proposed cuts would not be necessary if the majority of our legislators had shown some fiscal responsibility and not assisted in protecting Bobby Jindal’s national image.

Jindal shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds him

 

These days Bobby Jindal spends most of his taxpayers’ paid working hours serving himself rather than Louisiana residents.  He crisscrosses our nation advocating the tea party chant about government waste and the need to reign in all, what he and his political friends term, the liberal left handout programs that have ballooned over the years.

What Jindal conveniently side steps is that his own state budget ranks the SECOND highest in the nation in its dependence on these federal funds.   Approximately 44% of the state budget is composed of federal  dollars.

According to the Wallet Hub, Louisiana is one big American freeloader, ranking 48^th (1= least dependent) in its dependency on federal monies.  Wallet Hub also reports that this pattern of freeloading is greater nationwide among Republican controlled  states vs Democrat controlled states.

However, our Republican governed state also has the distinction of being one of the states with the largest deficits in terms of what they get in federal help versus what they give back in tax dollars (Approximately $3 for every $1 in federal taxes paid).  So while Jindal continually touts the conservative banter about how U.S. citizens are over taxed by the Feds for federal hand out programs, this certainly isn’t true economically in his own state.

The interesting part of this seemingly hypocritical behavior of Bobby is his professed positon on cutting federal support dollars will most likely become a reality with the recent shift in the political climate thanks primarily to the Koch brothers.  However, this will completely devastate the state, due to Jindal’s budgetary practices which continue to substantially rely on federal hand out dollars. 

Looks like our esteemed governor has set up Louisiana for failure by not practicing what he preaches, but then again he has greater aspirations and could care less about the future of our state.  We all need to feel sorry for the next governor of Louisiana.

Louisiana needs a guy in a white hat to ride in

Some folks just say it better, Letter to the Editor, The Advocate, November 15, 2014:

As I look at some of the highlights of our governor’s tenure, I am reminded of many a Western movie. Some of the highlights of his tenure are the gutting of money for higher education, i.e. our future; the raid on the insurance fund for employees and retirees under the guise of reducing premiums; the turning down of free money in order to maintain our same charity hospital system with contracts under the guise of creating a new system; the contracting out of care for the developmentally disabled so that private contractors can make a profit off the money we spend for the care of these folks; and the removal by a wave of the hand of the leaders of a supposedly separate and coequal branch of government who dare to disagree with him.

There are certainly more, and all of us have our own favorites.

The Western movies that come to mind are those depicting the townsfolk peering around the shades of their windows as the town boss and his gang act willfully without regard to law or decency. A courageous cowboy then rides into town, sees the injustices and is talked into cleaning up things, which he does. By way of analogy, it is Dodge City without Marshall Dillon, with Miss Kitty wringing her hands and watching helplessly.

Further analogy puts our state’s Legislature in the role of Miss Kitty. About all any of them have been doing while the “town boss and his gang” have been running rampant is peering around the shades and wringing their hands hoping that a courageous and decent cowboy (someone else) shows up. All of them should be honest with themselves and us and start wearing dresses like Miss Kitty.

Robert Boland
retired
Baton Rouge

No real concern for cost savings accountability

There is no shortage of criticism when it comes to some of the actions of our state legislators, but it’s also important to praise them when they truly represent the wishes of their constituents.

So kudos to all the legislators that rallied against the attempted OGB Hospitalization scam dreamed up by Kristy Nichols and crew.  Their hard work has produced a truly workable hospitalization plan for state employees, teachers, and retirees.

However, let’s not forget the root source of this scam, which enjoys its anonymity in the shadows.

All this mess began with a $4.2 million contract with an out-of–state consulting firm known as Alvarez and Marsal.  They were contracted by Jindal’s crew to make recommendations on how to save $500 million a year.

Since there are people already hired in state government who could do this job, namely, the State Legislative Auditor Department composed of Legislative Auditor Daryl Pupera and his staff, the irony of spending $4.2 million more of state funds to save money is self- evident. 

In actuality, Alvarez and Marsal’s cost saving recommendations weren’t necessary, for this past year the state legislative auditors have repeatedly produced data demonstrating the Jindal administration’s inefficiency, wastefulness, and neglect of duty, which easily could approach the $500 million savings goal.

Reports have focused on prisoners receiving food stamps, state Medicaid funds paid to companies to care for dead people, millions of dollars in oil and gas severance taxes uncollected, lack of oversight for schools receiving school voucher payments, wide disparity in property tax assessments reviewed by the state tax commission, a failure to collect state income taxes, a failure to collect ethic violations fines, inadequate eligibility monitoring of tax incentive recipients, and recently, the lack of sound financial controls in the Department of Public Safety leading to the misappropriation of funds from the DMV.

Basically, this data demonstrates Jindal’s hypocrisy when he talks about his concerns with the federal government spending wastes, and his desire for result-oriented management.  Additionally, these audits point, not necessarily to corruption, but continually to an administration claiming to not having adequate resources, but not best using those that it does have.

So why does Jindal keep ignoring in-house reports and continue to implement a plan by Alvarez and Marsal?  Because Jindal has no control over the state auditors and they often focus on the inadequacies of his ill-fated creative plans to save state money.  And with Alvarez and Marsal he can continue to cut where he wants while hiding his failures.

Let’s be perfectly clear; our Rhodes Scholar governor is not about real cost savings for this state, but instead about his political image. Thus this state will continue to suffer and waste money on unnecessary contracts.

'Perfect storm' building on Louisiana horizon

 

Louisianans need to brace themselves for the possibility of yet another round of education and health services funding cuts due to what I term, “the perfect storm.” 

The first phase of this storm began with the sudden drop in the price of crude oil.  While we rejoice with each visit to the pump, we need to remember that lower oil prices also take a chunk out of the state budget, since production royalties, severance taxes, and state land leases are the big moneymakers for this state.
 

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, states if the low oil prices begin to affect oil rigs along the Gulf of Mexico, "For every dollar that the price of oil drops, the state loses $12 million dollars in the general fund."
 

The second phase of this storm comes from the recent passage of amendments 1 and 2 by the voters of this state protecting private nursing homes and hospitals from budget cuts at the expense of colleges and universities, and in-home health services for the elderly, disabled, and those with special needs.
 

The first phase of this perfect storm could be somewhat nullified if we had not been saddled with a budgetary reckless governor.   In states with visionary wisdom such as Texas, rainy day funds were setup to offset any oil revenue fluctuations.  Monies are set aside over the years to be used in emergency situations.  Louisiana had such an account until Bobby came on board.
 

The rainy day fund, formally called the Budget Stabilization Fund, was tapped by Jindal’s minions in recent years to help close state budget gaps.  Bobby has spent over $300 million with legislators’ approval.
 

Consequently, the state can’t afford this perfect storm, for if the price of crude oil continues to remain low, legislators will have to go back and cut the only entities not protected by constitutional amendment.  Since passage of amendments 1 and 2 just removed two more entities from possible funding reductions, those that remain, education and medical services, will receive even more draconian cuts.
 

Just remember voters, you reap what you sow!

Yet another embarrassment !

Once again I am embarrassed for my state.   Years ago we elected a member of the KKK to our state senate, a year later when this same individual ran for the U.S. senate, he lost, but got 43% of the vote, and after that he received 32% of the vote in his try for governor of this fine state.

And let’s not forget about our esteemed convicted governor and his present drive for re-election to public office, Senator David Vitter and his flirtations with the D. C. Madame, or former senator, William Jefferson, with the $90 thousand in the freezer.

Now we can add a confessed crook, Eric Dangerfield, to our embarrassment list, for he has been elected to serve some children of this state as a member of the Tangipahoa School Board. Talk about a total disrespect for our children.

In May Mr. Dangerfield and his wife pleaded guilty to operating a criminal enterprise designed to siphon dollars from the Louisiana Medicaid Program and evade paying state taxes.

Cassandra N. Dangerfield pleaded guilty to one felony count of racketeering and two felony counts of state tax evasion. Her husband and business partner Eric Dangerfield, who served on the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA to six counts of misdemeanor theft and two misdemeanor counts of tax evasion.

As a result of this crime, Mr. Dangerfield received a 4 year suspended sentence on the condition that he and his wife pay $3.5 million in restitution, fines and penalties for the racketeering and theft charges. The Dangerfields must also pay the Louisiana Department of Revenue $74,000 in back taxes and investigative costs in relation to the tax evasion charges.   Additionally, Eric Dangerfield was ordered to immediately resign from the Tangipahoa School Board.

To date, they have paid back only $200.00 and a hearing is scheduled to be held in December to determine if this constitutes a violation of his probation, which could result in his going to jail.

But some Tangipahoa voters saw fit to re-elect him to the school board. Disgraceful !

Let’s pray that national news doesn’t get hold of this story.  This state doesn’t need any more embarrassments.

Does Bobby Jindal really want to make things right?

Here we go again. Bobby got caught with his pants down, so to speak, and has decided that because he overstepped his authority and didn’t follow state law, traits he attributes to our President, he had better refund some money to Office of Group Benefits hospitalization plan enrollees.

It is estimated to cost the state about $4.48 million.  But don’t get too excited just yet.  You may have to file an appeals request form to get your share.  If you are computer savvy and continually check the OGB website you will notice a letter explaining your eligibility and how, in some situations, appeal request forms must be completed to receive your money. This applies to both incurred pharmacy and medical costs.

The absurdness of this procedure once again demonstrates Jindal’s intellectual  arrogance and his administrative staffs’ out of touch with reality in dealing with the citizens of this state.

Who in their right mind regularly checks the OGB website and some may not even subscribe to the daily newspapers that ran the article explaining this procedure.  Some retirees may not be computer literate or even own a computer.

Let’s hope all those eligible kept their doctors’ and pharmacy receipts from three months ago.  Additionally, I find it curious that these documents are titled ‘appeal forms’ rather than ‘refund requests.’  Appeals can be denied!  Maybe Bobby just really doesn’t want these folks to get their money back after all.

Jindal’s slickness never ceases to amaze me.

Dedicated Funds Not Safe from Jindal

Recently there has been a lot of chatter regarding President Obama’s purported violation of the U. S. Constitution by over stepping his authority.  One of his most vocal critics is the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal.

However, Jindal probably ranks as one of the most hypocritical critics of all of President Obama’s foes.

One only has to look at Jindal’s budgetary schemes to find abundant examples of exceeding one’s authority coupled with a total disregard for the Louisiana constitution and the wishes of the Louisiana voters.

During Jindal’s term he has continually raided funds that were dedicated by constitutional amendment, legislative proposition, or mandate for specific purposes, and used them instead for other purposes in order to balance the state’s operating budget.

Some of these dedicated funds’ confiscations included:

1)      The raiding of $40 million each year from the Millennium Trust Fund, the tobacco industry suit monies originally mandated for health and education needs.

 

2)      The Medicaid Elderly Trust Fund totaling over $830 million.   Money initially dedicated for providing supportive home health services for the elderly and disabled.  The intent of these funds was to never touch the principal amount, but Jindal has depleted the principal to supplement Medicaid reimbursements to private nursing homes.

3)      The Office of Group Benefits health insurance reserve fund totaling over $550 million.

4)      The retirement fund for probation and parole officers totaling over $3.7 million. The Jindal administration is being sued over the raiding of these funds and is presently in the appeal’s process.

5)      Dedicated Louisiana Public Service Commission funds.  The administration is also being sued over the confiscation of these funds.

6)      The Artificial Reef Development Fund.  Monies dedicated for the construction of artificial reefs to slow coastal erosion totaling over $44.5 million.

7)      Katrina recovery monies dedicated for home owners that suffered hurricane damage. Some of this money was raided and redirected for upgrades, NOT REPAIRS, to the Superdome.

8)      The Concealed Handgun Permit Fund, totaling $1.2 million, legislated to be used solely for the administrative costs in issuing permits.

9)      The Blind Vendors’ Trust Fund, totaling $1.6 million. This fund was established to set aside money from vending operations in courthouses and other state or federal properties and use it to help the legally blind run snack stands, cafeterias and vending machines. By raiding this fund, Jindal is literally taking money from the blind.

10)  The Transportation Trust Fund.  Bobby raided over $60 million from this road and bridge infrastructure repair and maintenance fund and gave it to the state police.

11)  The St. Landry’s Excellence Fund  ear marked to provide additional educational funding in St. Landry Parish.

The list goes on, but space is limited.

The main issue with all these funds being raided is not whether you agree, or disagree with the merits of the funds, but the fact that Louisiana citizens approved the establishment of them for specific purposes by exercising their vote.

Governor Bobby Jindal continues to ignore the mandates of the people who he was elected to serve, and, in some cases, even state constitutional amendments; the same behavior which he energetically attributes to our President.

And the greater hypocrisy of all this is many in his own political party, who also complain about our President, condone Jindal’s behavior by allowing the funds’ raiding to continue each budget year.

It appears we have our own Obama clone right here in Louisiana.

How much will the OGB insurance plans really cost?

The new medical insurance rates imposed by the Office of Group Benefits on our state workers, teachers, and retirees are of great concern.  However, it’s not just the dramatic economic burden on its members’ family budgets that should bother us.  In addition, we should be concerned that the present cost changes may NOT be based on sound actuarial valuations but simply are guesstimates by the Commissioner of Administration Office and OGB.

If one goes to the OGB website you will notice that a Request for Proposals (RFP) is being lent for actuarial services beginning January 1, 2015 and ending December 31, 2015 to evaluate the cost liabilities of the OGB medical plans.

For those not familiar with the term ‘actuarial valuation,’ it’s basically a type of report which serves as a guide to companies in making economic and demographic assumptions in order to estimate future liabilities.  In the case of OGB, this report would give guidance as to whether the new cost increases are sufficient to allow the plans to be self-sustaining.

Apparently, from the recent RPF, it appears OGB is going to monitor their costs during plan implementation and this is good standard business practice.  It is for one year with the option to renew with the same company for two additional years.

What should concern  us is that NO such RFP for actuarial services for evaluating the feasibility of the new OGB cost changes BEFORE they were implemented can be found.  I have contacted Susan West, CEO of OGB, requesting this information, but have to date, received NO response.  When I made other informational requests, I received an immediate response.

The deafening silence surrounding this request leads me to believe that perhaps NO such analysis was done.   Therefore OGB is HOPING that the cost increases will be adequate because there appears to be no reliable supportive cost projection data.

My major concern is if the actuarial valuations beginning January 1, 2015, indicate that OGB erred in their guesstimates, and underestimated, state workers, teachers, and retirees will be saddled with yet ANOTHER increase in their health care costs midway through next year.

And remember, OGB monthly premiums will never rise, because that would mean a greater cost burden for the state.

Instead OGB could just keep increasing ‘out-of-pocket’, ‘deductibles’, and the number of ‘required authorization’  procedures, until “they get it right.”

As more and more information slowly becomes apparent surrounding the entire OGB situation, beginning with the decision to lower insurance premiums by 8% for two years, one is forced to question the competence of those Jindal appointees involved with it.  From Jindal’s point of view they are probably considered most competent because they dutifully carry out his unconscionable deeds.  However, from an unbiased, good business practice model, they flunk the test.

 However, the only thing that is certain about the OGB insurance plans is that its members will continue to remain in the dark about how much to budget for their health insurance costs.

Are Our Legislators Really Masochistic?

With all the misinformation and missing support data regarding the justification for the Office of Group Benefits’ radical changes to the medical health insurance plans for state employees, teachers, and retirees, one has to wonder about the self preservation skills of most of our state representatives.

Upon my inquiry to OGB, I learned that our legislators fall under the same plans as the rest of us folk.

Let’s forget about the fact that our representatives don’t always look out for the best interests of us citizens, and instead focus on the reality that they didn’t even have enough common sense to look out for their own well-beings.

Some might speculate that they assumed the martyr’s role because they believed all the budgetary distortions espoused by Jindal and his cohorts, and felt the changes were necessary for the overall budgetary health of our fine state, the bigger picture.

However, after recent enlightenment from representative John Bel Edwards and state treasurer, John Kennedy, we learn that several legislative and fiscal management procedures were violated by Jindal’s folks.   Not only did Jindal possibly violate the Administrative Procedures Act, a ruling by the state attorney general also concluded that the Jindal administration had not allowed the Legislature enough oversight or provided proper notification before making the drastic changes to the health care plans.  In fact, some claim that Jindal’s minions didn’t even have the authority to unilaterally implement ANY of these changes.

One would hope that ALL our legislators know about these procedures and when they are violated.  Also, I would think that since these changes were going to directly impact their own financial well-being, that our representatives would have shown great concern when these changes were proposed.   It took state workers, retirees and teachers to sound the alarm.

Maybe the real reason for their recent willingness to impose self-inflicted damage is because they spend too much time playing with their cell phones, notebooks, and iPads during legislative sessions and pay little attention to what’s being done to the citizens of this state, and in this situation, to themselves.

The Sad Truth About Louisiana

I could not have said this any better:

Letters to the Editor, The Baton Rouge Advocate, 10/14/2014

Louisiana remains poor despite its vital importance to the welfare of the nation, its strategic location, its abundant natural resources and its people who for generations have had a strong work ethic.
In stark contrast to Louisiana, East Texas (including Houston) with the same assets — except the Mississippi River — has grown rich since 1935 while our state has remained poor. Why?

This writer opines that the state’s poverty despite its valuable assets results from too many governors with poor leadership skills, too many governors who served to better themselves, not the state, too many governors who spent the state’s finite oil and gas money in the wrong places and too many legislators who voted in the best interest of the exploiters of the state rather than in the best interest of the people of the state.

A recent example of the mismanagement of the state’s assets is the six-year assault by Gov. Bobby Jindal and his allies, the legislators, on the state’s best hope for a better economic future, Louisiana’s public universities. State Legislative Fiscal Office statistics reveal that the legislators have cut funding of higher education by more than $1 billion in the last six years.

The “our hands are tied by the state constitution” excuse used by legislators to do nothing to stop university cuts is a myth that has been debunked by state Treasurer John Kennedy on numerous occasions. Billions in statutory dedications and corporate tax exemptions could be trimmed to fund higher education if the lawmakers had the guts to risk losing the political support of special interest groups that wield undue influence over the Legislature.

The powerful influence of special interest on the Legislature was evident in 2013 when “fiscal hawk” legislators proposed trimming some of the 450 corporate tax exemptions in order to reduce another billion-dollar state deficit and thereby help higher education. The measure was gaining momentum in the House when, suddenly, the “hawks” surrendered when told “no” by special interest groups composed primarily of companies that have, for decades, treated Louisiana as a colony, a place to be exploited for its natural resources, with the profits invested in other states.

Despite its valuable assets, Louisiana not only ranks at the bottom of the nation in higher education funding, it is also stuck at or near the bottom in the other quality-of-life national rankings.

What needs to change? The moving force will have to be a governor who combines strong leadership skills with honesty and with determination to work for the people, not the special interest. This visionary governor will lead our state to its rightful place in the sun, a place of prosperity.

Howard Franques
retired lawyer

Lafayette

Trick or no treat

It has finally become clear to me why Bobby Jindal is opposed to the adoption of the Common Core Standards.   Apparently he has created his own educational standards and already field tested them by self-schooling himself and some other state staff in the area of mathematics.   The fruition of this task is evidenced in his latest fiscal report to the state legislature.

By law the administration is required to issue a ‘general fund balance’ report to the Legislative Budget Committee in October of each year.  Using the Jindalian Math Standards, Bobby reported a $175.5 million state budget SURPLUS from last fiscal year.  The report itself did NOT disclose how the figure was derived or the source of the leftover cash. 

Our state treasurer, John Kennedy, who apparently was schooled utilizing a more traditional set of educational standards, claims the state has a $141 million DEFICIT and has the figures to support it.

Gee, that’s a $316.5 million discrepancy.

It appears that Kristy Nichols, our clairvoyant Commissioner of Administration, has also adopted the Jindalian Math Standards because she concluded that $319 million from, and I quote, “a variety of funds” carried over from several PRIOR state fiscal years should be added to last year’s figure to create this surplus.

She further demonstrated her expertise in fiscal management by stating that these monies had been sitting around for over 12 years and never included in any previous public revenue reports.

So let me try to understand this accounting procedure.  If previous governors had a surplus of money left in their budgets but failed to report that figure, we can take that money that no longer exists and use that figure to off-set a real deficit for the past fiscal year under Jindal’s leadership.

Using Nichols' methodology, for example let’s suppose that governors Edwin Edwards, Mike Foster, and Kathleen Blanco had a combined total of $500 million surplus funds for some of their state budget years that failed to be included in year-end balance calculation reports for whatever reason.  Nichols, utilizing Jindalian Math Standards, claims that if Jindal’s budget many years later showed a $200 million DEFICIT, she can report to the Legislative Budget Committee that there is a $300 million SURPLUS based on this money that was not formally reported.  However, the ability to actually put one’s hand on this money remains a mystery.

I must admit  Jindal’s folks continue to awe me with their smoke and mirrors budgetary tactics.  They are quite resourceful with their bag of tricks.  But then again this is the ‘trick or treat’ time of year.

Basically, Nichols is using the responsible fiscal management skills of PREVIOUS governors to mask the fiscal incompetence of the present administration.

Prior to issuing this fiscal report Jindal and Nichols advised legislative financial experts by conference call about this NEW way of issuing the state ‘general balance report,’  and the really sad part about all of this is, Nichols claims the legislative representatives, “agree with us.”   However, some did admit that they weren’t provided enough information to tell whether it’s the CORRECT approach.

I think one of my favorite t-shirts pretty much summarizes all this - “When all else fails, manipulate the data.”

However, on a positive note, I guess the issue of reduced hospitalization coverage for members of the Office of Group Benefits plans can now be laid to rest.  Apparently now there’s enough surplus money to fund the original plans without any changes.  Don’t bet on it.

I can’t wait until all the Jindalian Educational Standards are implemented statewide in our schools.

Watch Out for Amendment #1

Be careful of the tricky wording of Amendment #1 on the upcoming election.  It is being PR’d by the Louisiana Nursing Home Association as a benefit to the elderly in this state. This may not be the case.

When Mike Foster was governor of our state he used matching federal monies to set up the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly.  The fund contained more than $830 million.   The original intent of the trust fund was to leave the principle intact and use the interest and investment earnings to fund community and home support services for the elderly so that they could remain living independently in their homes for a longer time.  It basically postponed the time when it finally became necessary to enter a nursing home facility.

When Jindal took over, he, along with legislators’ approval, raided the principal amount of the elderly trust fund to prevent Medicaid funding cuts from being implemented for PRIVATE nursing homes throughout the state. While other medical services throughout the state received drastic funding cuts, the PRIVATE nursing homes were shielded from such cuts with the fund’s money.

It is estimated that the ENTIRE fund will be wiped out by the end of Jindal’s term.

With an eye on the future, the Louisiana Nursing Home Association has realized their protection from state budget cuts is about to end.  Consequently, they got the legislators to propose a constitutional amendment that will protect nursing homes from any future state budget cuts, Amendment #1 on the ballot.

Amendment passage will make it very difficult for the state to reduce funding rates for nursing homes.

If yet another entity is protected by constitutional amendment from state budget cuts, deeper cuts will be made to education, medical services, behavioral help services, and home help services because they have no such constitutional funding protection.

Unlike what the Louisiana Nursing Home Association would like you to believe, a ‘NO’ vote will be the real benefit for senior citizens in our state.   It will allow legislators more opportunities to spread any future budgetary cuts equally among ALL aspects of care for the elderly, and permit more monies to be utilized to continue the services which allow seniors to remain living independently in their homes for a longer time.

It is imperative that legislators be given this budgetary flexibility in light of the fact that Jindal has completely wiped out the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly, funds that will NEVER be restored.

Vote ‘NO’ for Amendment #1.

When is a contract not a contract?

Wednesday’s Hammond Star featured a guest commentary by Governor Jindal about the success of his privatization of the LSU Charity Health Care System.  However, what he failed to include in his commentary was the fact that so far the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have yet to approve his plan.   Since the Medicare and Medicaid monies are the major funding source for paying for this venture, one would have thought that Jindal would have consulted with CMS to verify its legality BEFORE implementing it. But true to form, Bobby’s intellectual arrogance took precedence over common sense and he decided to forgo CMS pre-approval.

Since the plan has been in operation for almost a year, and has yet to win CMS approval, I wonder how it is presenting being funded.  Maybe Bobby is just borrowing money from other state agencies in his usual smoke and mirrors fashion.

However, what is interesting is that the contracts to privately administer the charity hospitals in New Orleans, Lafayette, Bogalusa, Lake Charles, Shreveport and Monroe were all just revised to include the following clauses:

1)     The private operators of these hospitals now have the ability to cancel the contract at ANY time with a 60-day notice due to “inconvenience”

2)    The private operators have been allowed to reduce their obligations in providing “core” and “key” services to the poor and uninsured patients.

 

The terms “inconvenience”, and “core” and “key” services are certainly very ambiguous and dangerous  terminology to include in any contract.  They are very dependent upon each party’s interpretation.

So basically, if the private companies aren’t making ENOUGH profit they can just close down the hospital’s operation because it’s too “inconvenient” to continue to operate, and if they don’t feel like offering a particular needed medical service because someone lacks medical insurance, that’s also okay.

Sure glad I didn’t have that “inconvenient” clause in my recent house repair contract.  Maybe if the weather had gotten any hotter, my guy would have just left the job because it was too  “inconvenient.”

I also wonder if this present private sector contract really reflects the original intend of the charity hospital system, a health care safety net for the most in need.  

Please don’t misunderstand my point,  if Jindal wants to less burden the state financially and operate these hospitals in this way, so be it.  But don’t lie to the public by reporting to the media about, “more health care access, better quality of services, and lower health costs” being provided,  as compared to the old charity health care system , because the private administration of these hospitals is operating under a different set of rules and is completely different from what previously existed.

A comparison of the ‘old’ LSU Charity Hospital System to the present one is totally meaningless and only time will tell if better health care services will be provided coupled with health care cost savings.  That is, if Bobby finally gets CMS approval, and some of the privately administered hospitals don’t find it too “inconvenient” and cease providing any services at all.

Jindal Loves Rewarding Incompetence

 

Just recently the Jindal administration issued a legislative mandated evaluation report of the effectiveness of Bobby’s privatization of the Medicaid care system in Louisiana, known as the Bayou Health Plans. 

Naturally, the report was filled with positive statements about the improvement of the delivery of services while at the same time producing substantial monetary savings for our state.

In response to this report the state legislative auditor also evaluated this privatization effort and reported that the stated facts in the Jindal’s administration evaluation were NOT based upon an independent, unbiased assessment of the privatization plans.  It further stated Jindal’s evaluation lacked information supporting the “global assertions” of cost savings and improved health care cited in the report.

No matter, the contract has been continued.

However, the latest legislative auditor report is even more damning of Jindal’s privatization push.  This report is a follow up to one issued a year ago evaluating the privatization of the care of individuals in need of mental health services including substance abuse.  The initiative is called the Louisiana Behavioral Health Partnership and Magellan of Louisiana is the name of the private entity presently administering the services.

The present auditor’s report found the following:

Staffing levels had been reduced resulting in higher caseloads, longer waits for services, and reductions in the types of services delivered.

A failure to collect on third party billings, i.e. private insurance and Medicare, resulting in a loss of over $1 million in claims

A failure to meet the original contract requirement to link up with Louisiana’s Health Information Exchange to safely share clients’ information to improve patient safely and quality of care

A failure to reliably track patients’ care

However, here’s the kicker, the original contract was issued in March of 2012 for $357.6 million and ended February, 2014.  The initial state auditor’s report, conducted last year, raised several ‘red’ flags about the quality of services being provided by this privatization effort and the present report confirms that this effort is still a failure.  Yet the Jindal administration, along with assistance from puppets in both the state senate and house, EXTENDED this contract until February, 2015, and INCREASED the it by almost $200 million to $544.8 million.

Our Rhodes Scholar loves to continue using our hard-earned bucks to award incompetence, just to make it appear nationally that his privatization plans are working successfully in our state.

In summary, this privatization model is losing money, providing worse behavioral health services, and just was given $200 million more to continue.   Does Bobby really think the citizens of Louisiana believe his privatization models are more effective and less expensive than what we originally had?   Name just one that is working successfully.

Let's Do a Facts Check

Yesterday, September 3, 2014, a media release by the Jindal Administration entitled, “Health care reforms good for Louisiana” appeared in the Hammond Star.

It is important for Louisiana residents to realize that this positive report was largely based upon unverified data submitted by the insurance companies awarded the contracts to implement the Bayou Health plans for Medicaid recipients.  These reported facts WERE NOT based upon an independent, unbiased assessment of the privatization plans presently operating within our state.

As a matter of fact, a summary evaluation from the state legislative auditor said the Jindal administration’s positive report on the status of Medicaid privatization lacks information supporting  the “global assertions” of cost savings and improved health outcomes cited in that report.  The independent auditor’s report faults the Jindal release on two issues. One is that the privatized management of Bayou Health plans is not independently assessed.  Secondly, the comparisons between traditional Medicaid and the new privatization do not use apples-to-apples data.

“This lack of comparability renders most comparisons of Bayou Health data to legacy Medicaid data skewed and not useful,” according to the auditor’s report.

Regarding the statements concerning the Office of Group Benefits having to raise its premiums and revamp all its insurance plans due to Obamacare, that is a total deception.  The cause of all the changes that will occur to the OGB insurance plans is the result of the Jindal’s mismanagement of the plans since he decided to “fix” them.

Two years ago, he reduced members’ insurance premiums by 8%, which the state pays a portion of, in order to help balance the state budget.  This lead to not enough funds being collected to cover the costs of the plans, resulting in a 5% premium increase in July of this year.  This increase was NOT a result of Obamacare as stated in Jindal’s media release, but an attempt to undo Bobby’s mismanagement.  All the OGB plans were operating quite successfully before the implementation of “Bobbycare.”  I am no fan of Obamacare, but you can’t blame the present OGB mess on it. This disaster rests solely with the Jindal administration and all present members of the OGB insurance plans will pay dearly.

Where’s the data??

Well it is pretty obvious from Thursday’s legislative public hearing on the changes being implemented by the Office of Group Benefits that we have a new person sitting in the governor’s chair, Kristy Nichols, Commissioner of Administration.  She was the star of the show in attempting to address the reasons for the massive changes in the state insurance plans that are being implemented on the backs of approximately 230,000 state retirees, teachers and workers.   Where was Bobby?

She used all the panic catch words like, “outlook dim”, “changes imperative”, “soon go broke”,  in attempting to justify the present insurance plans that  must be selected by OGB members by October 31^st. 

However, there was something missing from her defense, actuarial valuations. 

An actuarial valuation is a type of report which requires making economic and demographic assumptions in order to estimate future liabilities.

These technical reports provide full disclosure of the financial and funding status of financed agencies.  They are prepared to predict the future financial impact of funding changes proposed for entities.

Insurance companies use them all the time to predict how much money they will need in premiums to offset the cost of claims and still remain profitable. 

I have one question for Ms. Nichols.  Where were the actuarial reports showing what the impact was going to be on the OGB state insurance plans when Jindal implemented his across-the-board 8% premium reduction for 2 years?

They apparently did one for the state budget impact, because Jindal’s minions figured out how much  money the state would save by the reduction in premiums.   This would occur because the state pays up to 75% of retirees’ health premiums, and if you reduce them, the state has to come up with less money; thus the purported savings. 

Jindal and Nichols are not stupid individuals.  The lack of these reports was not due to incompetence or oversight.  They simply didn’t care what happened to the insurance plans.  Their only concern was for a balanced state budget proposal.  

After implementation of the 8% premium reduction, the insurance plans started going south due to a failure of not enough premium monies to offset the insurance medical claims costs.   Jindal’s crew panicked and immediately implemented an across-the-board 5% premium increase.   

However that still left them 3% short of putting things back to the original levels.  But remember, each percent of premium increase would cost the state more money and Bobby’s servants wanted to protect the state budget which was already operating at a loss. 

So while Nichols goes on and on about the poor health of the retirees and rising insurance cost due to Obamacare,  I’m pretty confident that, if the Jindal administration had approached the OGB insurance problem from an actuarial valuation of the insurance plans AND the state budget, some truly workable solution could have been found that would not devastate those OGB retirees on a fixed income. 

Some have claimed that the ultimate goal of the Jindal administration is to force everyone out of the state insurance plans, thus saving the state big bucks.

After all he can’t cut education and medical services anymore and survive in his bid for a presidential nod.  And he certainly can’t raise taxes and survive.  Consequently, he must find other creative ways to balance the state budget.  

I would like to see Bobby and Nichols submit an actuarial valuation which focuses on utilizing the original OGB premiums rates BEFORE Bobby's rollback coupled with the implementation of an across-the-board 5% premium increase.  I bet no additional changes would have to be made to any of the present plans.

Louisiana Infrastructures Dismal

I must compliment Bobby Jindal on the fact that he and his administration have left no stone unturned when it comes to negatively impacting the quality of life in our state.  Not only have they destructively impacted educational services, health care services, and recreational services, they have now received recognition for their demise of Louisiana’s infrastructures, namely its roadways and bridges.

Under Bobby’s guidance Louisiana has moved from 24^th in its highway conditions and spending in 2011 to 40^th in the nation in the latest findings of the 21^st Annual Highway Report released by the Reason Foundation.  Our state also ranks 39^th in the condition of its bridges.  Roads rated as poor in urban areas rose to three times higher than the national average, while poor rural roads rose to double the national average.

This latest indictment of Louisiana stands in sharp contrast to a very positive aspect of our state which Jindal takes great pride in and pushes often in his national political forums.

It is Louisiana’s rise to No. 6 in the Site Selection 2013 Top U.S. Business Climates.  It is the state’s highest-ever placement in the magazine’s annual ranking. Just four years ago, Louisiana ranked No. 25. Jindal has accomplished this by offering large tax breaks and monetary incentives to businesses if they will choose to open shop in Louisiana.

Jindal often touts this as proof of his successful governing of Louisiana as evidenced by his recent media release: 

“For decades, Louisiana was losing jobs and our people because we did not have a good business environment. Companies were fleeing our state because of high taxes, and other companies didn’t give us a second look because our state was too corrupt. We set out to reverse that trend more than five years ago by eliminating taxes that stifled growth, reining in government spending, overhauling governmental ethics laws, revamping workforce training programs, and providing more educational opportunities for families. Because of these reforms, we have more jobs in Louisiana than at any point in our state’s history. Indeed, this latest ranking confirms that we are on the right path to create more opportunities for our people.”  

I can’t argue with Jindal’s success in this area.  However, if you are literally giving away the state economically with business tax breaks and monetary incentives funded at the expense of the wellbeing of its residents, I have serious concerns.

And most likely once businesses figure out the poor conditions the state has to offer in terms of quality of education,  healthcare and infrastructure, all the tax breaks and incentives in the world won’t satisfy these essential needs that companies desire for their employees.  

It’s only a matter of time until his economic plan all unravels, but Jindal prays it will last long enough until he receives his national presidential bid.  In the meantime he is perfectly happy sacrificing Louisianans to accomplish HIS goal.