The latter part of January 2014 should probably be remembered when the policies of Gov. Bobby Jindal began to unravel in rapid succession and as a time when he was finally exposed as far more goobernatoral than gubernatorial.
If that seems harsh and disrespectful of the man and the office, then so be it; it’s only because he has earned it—in spades.
He has submitted executive budget after executive budget crafted around one-time funding for recurring expenditures—something he vowed never to do when he was running for office. He has sold off state property and entire agencies to finance those budgets. He has gone on a privatization rampage that is now coming home to bite him in the posterior, to the surprise of few observers. He has stacked board after commission with campaign lackeys who possess few, if any, qualifications for their positions of responsibility for running such things as the state’s flagship university. He has embarked on an ambitious quest for the Republic presidential nomination that is doomed to failure and disappointment.
That said, let’s examine the developments of the past few days that have converged to upset the house of cards upon which his administration has been built over the past six years:
- The Office of Group Benefits (OGB) was privatized only a year ago. In that time, some 100 state employees lost their jobs, a $500 million reserve fund has dwindled to half that because of an ill-advised decision by Jindal to reduce premiums to some 250,000 state employees, dependents and retirees by 7 percent to make the privatization more palatable—and to reduce the state’s share of premium payments thereby helping Jindal balance his budget. Meanwhile, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, the third party administrator who assumed management of OGB as a “cost savings plan” was forced to draw down that cash reserve to pay claims.
The folly of that ploy, of course, manifested itself this week when it was learned that double digit (some say as much as 25 percent) premium increases are imminent in order to keep what was once arguably the best-run agency in state government afloat. Meanwhile, yet another CEO has departed and the fourth in less than three years has been ushered in.
- The crash and burn disaster of the administration’s privatization of the LSU hospital system is even more dramatic. The Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana (BRF) took over the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and E.A. Conway Medical Center in Shreveport last October because Jindal assured us that it would save taxpayer dollars. Yet, less than four months after BRF assumed operation of the two facilities, it is asking the state to bankroll more than $120 million in hospital improvements and expansions.
And don’t forget this privatization deal was approved by the LSU Board of Stuporvisors. One of the board members who voted for the deal which at the time, included a contract with more than 50 blank pages, just also happens to be the CEO of BRF but Jindal pooh-poohed the very idea that there could be a conflict of interests.
- Another hospital privatization, that of the Interim Louisiana Hospital which replaced the old Big Charity that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina, is also proving to be a tad more costly than we had been told by Jindal, thanks to the scrapping of a $46.5 million medical records system that is less than two years old.
On Friday, Jan. 24, ILH CEO Cindy Nuesslein notified employees of the one-time LSU Medical Center now jointly run by Children’s Hospital of New Orleans and Touro Infirmary that the electronic health record system installed by Epic Systems Corp. was being scrapped in favor of something called the Soarian Clinicals Siemens platform. No cost estimate was provided for the changeover, but it’s a good bet that the cost will be borne by the state.
The Epic system only went live in July of 2012 and the Epic contract, which began on May 18, 2010, expired on May 17, 2013.
- When Jindal privatized the University Medical Center in Lafayette, he also closed the medical center’s First Step Detox, a “first step” treatment center for those suffering from chemical dependency—typically chronic alcoholics, IV heroin and/or other opiate abusers, including polysubstance abusers. When First Step Detox reopened, it sublet the center to Compass, a private entity that accepts only private pay and insured patients.
The news release announcing the reopening of First Step made no mention of the new admission policy, nor did it mention the ever-shrinking number of options for treatment for indigent patients. Now former patients are referred to the overburdened Baton Rouge Detox where they are instructed to fax their paperwork in order that they may be placed on a long waiting list.
- Another private contractor with four contracts worth more than $385.5 million has been the subject of two critical audits by the Legislative Auditor’s Office. Moreover, a north Louisiana doctor claims that physicians are refusing to accept patients with Magellan insurance.
The first state audit, released in mid-December, says that the Department of Health and Hospitals provided no external evaluation of the performance of Magellan under its $361.4 million contract to handle paperwork and connect Medicaid 151,000 patients with mental health care providers.
Last August, the legislative auditor’s office said claims payments have been problematic for four state agencies and blamed Magellan for failing to meet significant technical requirements.
DHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert disputed that claim, saying that the privatization is working. She said the number of health care providers has expanded from 800 to 1,700—a claim hotly disputed by Scott Zentner, a Monroe neuropsychiatric doctor.
“I wish I could get to the bottom of Kliebert’s phony numbers regarding the supposed increase in providers since the Magellan takeover because the evidence is clearly to the contrary,” Zentner said. “I would bet my medical license that people are being counted now (that) weren’t before.”
Zentner said Magellan’s contract extends to private and public providers in a number of treatment settings. “Previously, they (providers) were reimbursed by fee for contracted services through DHH and some were not billing Medicaid at all, such as employees with the Office of Family Support.” Now, though, providers who were already delivering services before Magellan are now being included in the count who were not before, he said.
“I find it despicable that the head of DHH is twisting the numbers to cover up for a dramatic decline in services,” he said.
Zentner retired in 2012 after 20 years that included work as a medical director and staff psychiatrist for DHH and as a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at LSU. He said he returned to private practice after being “unable to further tolerate Jindal’s dismantling of our mental health system.”
He said he accepts all private insurances now except Magellan after “having been burned by them in the past for unpaid claims. They are the ultimate master in the use of passive-aggressive stall tactics in denying payments to providers, typically for silly technicalities; eg, misspellings resulting from typos.”
“In the northeast region of the state, with Monroe as the center of a 12-parish district, 75 percent of the physician/psychiatrist coverage has abandoned the community mental health system since Jindal took office,” he said. “Several Medicaid rehab agencies have shuttered their doors, one mental health clinic has closed in Rayville and others, including those in Winnsboro and Jonesboro, have been reduced to part-time outreach clinics operated by skeleton crews. Other outreach clinics, providing the most basic of mental health services, have closed in Tensas and East Carroll parishes,” he said.
“Other regions in the state have experienced even greater cuts than ours, but I doubt any of the regional administrators who are still employed would admit this publicly lest they be fired by Jindal.
“I’m highly skeptical of their (DHH) claims that provider rolls have increased, as (their figures) grossly contrast with reality,” he said.
The second audit was of the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) and cited the office for its failure to develop a plan to monitor OJJ contracts managed by Magellan.
Magellan has a $22.4 million two-year contract with the Department of Children and Family Services also scheduled to expire on Feb. 28.
That contract calls on Magellan to provide an array of coordinated community-based services “for children and youth with behavioral health disorders and their families that risk out of home placement.”
Magellan’s contract calls for it to take over management beginning Jan. 1, 2013, at Harmony Center-Camellia Group Home in Baton Rouge, Boys and Girls Villages in Lake Charles, Boys Town of Louisiana (two facilities, in New Orleans and Baton Rouge), Harmony Center-Harmony III Group Home in Baton Rouge, and Allen’s Consultation, Inc., in Baton Rouge.
The contract requires that Magellan submit a written report detailing its progress to OJJ every six months but as of December 2013, OJJ had not received any such report documenting use of contract funds or of meeting specific goals of the contract.
- Finally, in what is probably the most heartless, most ungrateful act yet by this administration, Jindal last week ordered the Louisiana National Guard (LNG) not to process any benefits for gay veterans on state property—in open defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. Apparently Jindal based his position on some state’s rights legal opinion which he feels gave him the leverage needed to deny benefits on state property. It looks to us like more work for Jimmy Faircloth to try and defend another administration policy of questionable legal merit.
What makes this order so egregious is the blatant flag waving hypocrisy in which Jindal envelopes himself.
This is the same governor who, in a great show of his patriotism for the benefit of newspaper photographers and television cameras, traveled all over this state to hand out those appreciation medals to military veterans. The bill to award the medals was passed in the belief that legislators would benefit from the goodwill but Jindal stole that opportunity from under their collective noses with his shameless traveling awards show, denying lawmakers the chance to get in on the act. (Just for the record, as a matter of principle, I chose not to stand in line to have him present my medal nor did I apply for it to be mailed to me even though I served.)
Moreover, as thousands of Louisiana guardsmen were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade or so, never once do I remember anyone in this administration inquiring if anyone being placed in harm’s way for his or her country was gay. Apparently it’s perfectly okay to get shot or blown up by a roadside IED if you’re gay but if you’re lucky enough to survive, don’t bother coming home and applying for benefits.
Never, in my 70 years, have I witnessed an act so gutless, so callused. To hide behind the flag and to call oneself a Christian and a patriot while at the same time issuing such a cowardly order is beneath contempt.
It is the act of a petulant little ingrate who would defend the senseless and insensitive comments of a Phil Robertson while pretending to support the men and women who wear the uniform that he never had the courage to wear.
Louisiana Voice 
Tom, How can Jindal be enforcing provisions of a law (DOMA) which has been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court? I know, that’s a stupid question. This is Jindal. The law and constitution are of no consequence.
Good question for which I have no answer other than the observation you have made.
Sec/Def Hagel has already called out these states for not complying with the Supreme Court decision on Windsor. http://www.law360.com/articles/498990
Looks like lil booby is asking for another slap down.
Thank you, Scott Zentner!!!!!!!
He’s willing to speak out and I am so grateful.
Magellan is a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were told it would work.
When we asked, what happens if it doesn’t, we were told “it will work.”
When they were questioned, “but what if it doesn’t work,” the response remained, “It WILL work.”
We knew immediately it was a done deal.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Outstanding column. My dream is you become editor of Gannett Louisiana papers and show the cheerleader “journalists” how to stop putting their byline on news releases and learn how to rake a little muck.
Christian? Jesus would probably slap Pope Piyush into next week for his war on the poor. Patriot? He rails at “the gubmint” while he craps on our constitution. He’s also a self-proclaimed exorcist, judge/attorney, doctor, financial expert – I could go on. He’s the smartest boy of all; just ask him or his minions. Ahh, The Life of PI – YOOSH! I keep hoping it’s just a bad dream.
If it is a dream we are all living it with him. When will we wake up?
Tom, thank you for finally exposing the Magellan contract for the disaster (and fraud?) that it is. My colleagues at OJJ have struggled and fought continuously with the Magellan people, to no avail. Our highest level staff meet regularly with the highest level of Magellan’s staff…and gotten little or nothing accomplished. Our clients often receive no services or are ejected from “Magellan” group homes….the very same facilities that we once contracted with and had successful results…now the contacts are with Magellan, not OJJ, so the agency has no clout for oversight. Magellan can’t place clients in 6 months; OJJ staff used to do it in a matter of days. Privatization has been a joke – we are paying Magellan to provide services and state employees still have to be involved to get the job done.
Love your characterization as “goobernatorial,” best adjective ever. Sadly, it’s not joke, but a disaster. When oh when are the boy and his little horde of minions going to receive their proper reward for devastating the state? Amazing, when you are at the bottom of the heap, it’s hard to sink any lower, but that’s exactly where they have taken Louisiana.
I only found this blog about three weeks ago (by, of all things, doing a Google search for “Bobby Jindal corruption”), and now I have NO IDEA how I’ve lived without it!! I anxiously await each release, and I’ve even got my mom who, at 83 years old, had never visited a SINGLE webpage in her life (not kidding), now with an iPAD. She’s coming to me each night and relaying what you’ve written, Tom, (even though I’ve already read it), and I just say, “Oh, really?” Great job, Tom, and thank God someone is out there serving to provide journalism the way it OUGHT to be done by mainstream media!!
I find it extremely funny that it has taken folks here in Louisiana…what ….six years…..to figure out Piyush is a total screw-up and has been all his working life!!!
I wouldn’t have been too hard to find out Boy Wonder, despite his “Conservative” bleatings, has had near no experience at working in the “Private Sector” he so adores.
His one stint…and probably his last…was at international consultant McKinsey & Company starting a few months after receiving a quickie and of questionable value degree in England in the field of Public Health Care.
He was hired on as one of the junior black suits by McKinsey & Company starting as a six month probationer. Obviously he didn’t look too promising to the company’s higher ups having been cut loose after only four months.
I know a few dozen ‘publican high-rollers that contributed heavily to his campaign(s) who are not likely to put Piyush on their company payroll.
His best shot to feed the family and staying off “welfare” is probably signing on with one of the Koch brothers’ firms. But I don’t think the Brothers will meet Piyush’s financial needs when his talents are limited to inexperienced office restroom cleaning, office sweeping & vacuuming, and taking out the trash at one of their more remote locations.
Keep in mind, voters in Louisiana voted for the jerk and probably would again had they not have equally inept replacements on the gubernatorial ballot in the form of Perkins and Vitter.
I survived Reagan and the Bushs, Foster and Jindal, so I guess I’ll be able to survive most anything.
If our Legislators one and all do not recognize the disaster that through their inaction against the Jindal onslaught have advanced, they are fools. A harsh term? Yes. Accurate? Also yes. Stop it now or forever live with this stigma.
Tom I’m trying to figure out how a person can put his/her life on the line for their country only to be refused medical treatment by a poor excuse of a human being much less a governor.
When I read that Epic is out at the former LSUMC I had to read it three times.
I know the nurses have not caught wind if this yet. Believe me, I would know.
The countless hours of training to learn this system is one thing.
Who us going to eat the cost for the COWS (COMPUTER ON WHEELS) that were purchased for the medical personal to use for Epic?
I wish no harm or ill will on anyone but I sure hope Jindal is held reasonable for his dastardly deeds!!
Again Tom I cannot thank you enough for exposing Jindal for what he is and for what he is doing to our state.
If only there were others with the backbone to write the truth.
Thanks, Tom
Who among us is surprised BCBS has drawn down half of the OGB reserve in their very first year of saving us money?
As I said way, way back, these companies are not non-profit facilities, they are all in it for the profit and spending the monies ASAP before the jindalites give it to someone else is probably why they have almost spent it all!!!
Tom, I read your blog last night and I felt sad, not angry. This morning it came to me why I felt that way. After observing Bobby Jindal’s behavior for the past few years years, I see a definite pattern. Bobby knows his decision will be declared unconstitutional and he knows he will be criticized, but he will bear the “shame” like a badge of honor. Bobby goes out of his way to make a stand for what he views as a “Christian Value”, but he doesn’t appear capable of really caring for individuals. When you read about Jesus in the Bible, he wasn’t “grandstanding” at public gatherings. Yes, on occasions, Jesus would teach to the crowds, but He would first minister to their needs. As Solomon once said, “Nothing is new under the sun”. In other words, we still have our Pharisees and Sadducees, it’s just that now they are called by different names. I still believe we should pray for our leaders, but we also have a responsibility to stand up for the poor and downtrodden and I feel that is what you are doing when you spend all of the hours you do by investigating and then writing about the wrongdoings of our leaders. Thank you Tom.
WOW!
Take a look at the new website for LDVA. Notice the “federal” property verbage, apparently Alexander is continuing this travesty of veterans benefit, and Tom it is not too late to get your “Hypocrisy/Honor” medal, and what about all the veterans and their families in the Medicaid gap?? Gotta get some more info.ron thompson
I retired from state run addiction clinic in Feb.2010. I was not going to go through the mess of managed care. I went through it in California in the late 80s and early 90s. What a mess that was. (Thank God I was not working for the state long enough to be vested in their retirement. I had SS.)
I also refused to attend the ceremony of the Louisiana Service metal. I could not take a chance of telling our idiot governor what I thought of him.
Not just OJJ, but Magellan is really mismanaging the care for kids in DCFS custody. Their delays cause kids to stay in foster care longer than should be necessary, delay family therapy to aid in rehabilitating families, and may prevent other children from being readily adopted due to their mental health issues that are going untreated while Magellan plays its delay tactics. Every social worker in state government knows of providers that refuse to work with Magellan, or providers whom Magellan found unworthy of its certification.
As for substance abuse treatment, a 30 year success story in the Pines Treatment Center of Shreveport closed because of Jindal, leaving a huge gap in services up here. Penny wise and pound foolish – who doesn’t believe that drug treatment is worth the funding? Insanity.
CB Forgotston has a ticker on his blog page counting down the days and hours till Jindal is gone. It ought to be on billboards on I-49, I-10 and I-20 for us all to see every day.
Tom,
You are a light, steady and bright, shining into the darkness of the current administration. Without your energy, honesty, courage and tenacity, and prodigious investigative skills, some if not most of us would have remained clueless with respect to the abuses of power and exploitation of the people of this state by the governor and those who carry out his directives, be they staff, administrators, board chairs and members, or legislators. You deserve the Pulitzer for excellence in investigative journalism…thanks once again for a job WELL DONE!!
Please speak up to everyone you know about Jindal. This clown will probably run for David Vitter’s Senate seat and those knowing no better will vote for him again. Please speak up and save our state before it is ruined beyond repair.
No matter how hard I try , I can not for the life of me figure out why Mr. Tom Aswell is one of a very few that has exposed the way Jindal and many other leaders of this State have only their best interests at heart!
Where are our watch dogs ?
Where is the federal goverment?
Where is our state attorney general?
Where are our big newspapers?
Where are our news stations?
I could go on.
My point is, if Mr. Aswell can dig up these dealings, why can’t other media—or why do they choose not to?
I can’t thank Mr. Aswell enough for his tireless work in getting the truth out.
Although I feel my words fall on deaf ears, I constantly contact our state elected and appointed officials with the issues Mr. Aswell brings reveals.
You would be surprised at the responses I get—if I get a response at all!
Mr. Aswell, I will continue to thank you by putting whatever pressure I can on these thieves and by spreading your truths to anyone that will lend an ear.
Thank you again, Mr. Aswell!
Tom, thank you for continuing to expose Jindal in his so called “privatizing” of multiple state agencies. Through your diligent investigative efforts, you have made a compelling case that these repeated machinations by the governor actually represent a “subsidizing” of corrupt corporate special interests via the ALEC conduit, at the expense of Louisiana’s taxpaying citizens. I fully stand by my comments regarding Magellan’s orchestrated subversion of our state-funded mental health system, and DHH’s complicit participation in its nefarious agenda.
Sincerely,
Scott Zentner, MD
I read this particular blog a bit late, so I’m sorry for the lateness of this comment.
I stole your “Notable Quotables” (referencing that I had stolen it from you) and posted the last two sentences of your blog on my facebook.
Nicely stated, Tom.