Louisiana reaches settlement to pay $5M, not $190M, for Jindal-era LSU hospital deals
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana will pay $5.4 million to the federal government to settle a debt tied to former Gov. Bobby Jindal's privatization of the charity hospital system, far less than the $190 million federal officials originally said the state owed, under a settlement released Thursday.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2014 ordered Louisiana to repay the money for pieces of the initial privatization deals that the Medicaid agency, known as CMS, rejected as improper.
Louisiana officials have been haggling over repayment terms ever since.
Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration told The Associated Press a settlement had been reached that will have the state repaying $5.4 million during the current budget year. In addition, the state will receive slightly reduced hospital lease payments from the manager of the state-owned New Orleans charity hospital.
"This settlement to correct the prior administration's mistake is being done with minimal impact to the state of Louisiana," Edwards said in a statement.
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