Reversal on DHH cuts irks lawmakers
by MARSHA SHULER - Advocate (excerpt)

Health-care budget cuts pushed by the Jindal administration for weeks are no longer needed, state Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said Friday.

Spending has been less than originally projected, so a proposed $81 million reduction to avoid a deficit in health-care spending is no longer needed, Levine said. Levine wrote a letter Friday to Gov. Bobby Jindal and legislative leaders that instead of a deficit he is looking at a surplus of “just more than $100 million” because of fewer services provided during the recent hurricanes.

Levine said hurricanes Gustav and Ike led to delays in the sign-up of some 400 developmentally disabled people for a waiver program that provides home and community based services. Therefore, the state did not spend as much money as budgeted.