Louisiana’s Proposed Section 1115 Medicaid Demonstration Project: Estimating the Numbers of Uninsured and Projected Medicaid Costs

This brief analyzes the composition and medical costs of the uninsured in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. The estimates in the brief are the first available that are based on a detailed analysis of who the uninsured are in Louisiana, their current medical spending, and what their spending might be under Medicaid. The findings show that expanding Medicaid coverage to Louisiana's uninsured would cost an estimated $2.3 billion in 2006 dollars. It also suggests that many of those who left Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina had coverage, so the number of uninsured in the state remained about the same, but their share of the total population increased.

Issue Brief (.pdf)