Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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Sept. 10
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans on U.S. Congress agreeing to give the national flood insurance program a short extension:
With Texans still cleaning up from Hurricane Harvey’s devastating rainfall and Hurricane Irma menacing Florida, Congress agreed to give the national flood insurance program a short extension.
Without that, the program would have lapsed Sept. 30. A gap in coverage would be problematic at any time, but it would have been especially harmful after major disasters.
The House and Senate have been at odds for months over how to reform flood insurance, but members voted late in the week to extend the National Flood Insurance Program through early December.
It would have been better if Congress could have agreed on a comprehensive reform bill before Sept. 30. Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Baton Rouge said he is concerned that the three-month extension doesn’t provide enough stability to people who are rebuilding from earlier floods. He’s right about that.
But the three-month extension should give Congress plenty of time to agree on a long-term fix.
There are two strong reform bills in the Senate. Both propose sensible changes to help shore up the program financially, reduce costs and provide stability for homeowners and businesses.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, introduced legislation in June to extend the flood insurance program for 10 years. Their bill preserves grandfathered rates to protect existing policyholders from unfair rate increases, introduces private coverage options, increases funding for flood mitigation and includes high-tech mapping to better assess risk.
Louisiana’s Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican, is a co-sponsor on a bipartisan reform bill introduced by Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. That legislation would reauthorize the flood insurance program for six years. It limits annual rate increases to 10 percent (which is significantly lower than now allowed), increases money going to mitigation, includes high-tech mapping, limits compensation for companies that write flood premiums and reforms the claims process.
Either bill or some combination of the two would improve the program while protecting policyholders.
A House bill backed by Texas Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling should be scrapped. That bill would punish property owners for a second flood claim, no matter how small and no matter how old.
Those homeowners would automatically lose the rate protection provided by the program’s grandfather clause. That clause assures that homeowners who built to FEMA’s specifications won’t see their rates skyrocket if they are put into a different classification because of new regulations or flood maps. Losing that rate protection could be financially catastrophic for thousands of homeowners nationwide.
That is just one problem with the House legislation. Louisiana’s House delegation has been working to revise the bill’s worst provisions, but it makes more sense to work with the Senate legislation.
The historic flooding in and around Houston during Hurricane Harvey has focused attention on the national flood insurance program. Only an estimated 20 percent of property owners in the flood were covered. Even so, the damages will put a financial strain on the NFIP.
How can that be remedied for the future? How can private insurers be brought more into the mix? What requirements should there be on rebuilding after repeat floods? How should rates be calculated?
Congress needs to take care in how it deals with those questions.
For example, Rep. Hensarling seems to believe that the federal flood insurance program just subsidizes beach homes for wealthy people. He’s wrong.
Most of the houses in Louisiana covered by the federal program are family homes. According to statistics from the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance, 62 percent of all NFIP policies are in counties with a median household income below the national average of $53,889. And 98.5 percent of all NFIP policies are in counties with a median household income below $100,000.
In 2012, Congress approved the Biggert-Waters Act to rework the flood insurance program. There was no thought given to whether policies would be affordable, and the changes triggered huge increases in rates. Congress ended up reversing some unworkable provisions of Biggert-Waters in 2014 to limit premium hikes.
Those lessons are important to remember now. The flood insurance program should be financially sound, but Congress also must make sure the cost of policies doesn’t drive people from their homes.
Online: https://www.nola.com/
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Sept. 12
The Advocate of Baton Rouge on U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy leading changes in mental health policy:
A cynical view is that doctors are too focused on the bottom line, but in fact, a physician in the U.S. Senate is aware of how well-meaning regulations on health spending affects day-to-day behavior in medicine - as, of course, it would in other fields.
Bill Cassidy talked recently about one of the changes he and bipartisan colleagues in the Senate have brought about in mental health treatment.
It sounds innocuous: A patient is seen by a psychiatrist for an episode, but under old Medicaid rules the patient’s high blood pressure or other physical ailments might not be attended to, because two physicians could not be paid the same day for the same patient.
As a physician in the LSU hospital system for many years, this offended Cassidy’s sense that a patient needs to be seen to in a more comprehensive way.
As a senator, Cassidy led a significant change in mental health policy, including the reimbursement rules, but also embracing government-wide assessment of mental health programs at the federal level.
“Interagency coordination for programs supporting individuals with serious mental illness is lacking,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2015. If you include matters like homelessness, often a consequence of mental illness, the GAO found more than 100 programs spread across various agencies of the U.S. government.
A new assistant secretary position created by the Cassidy bill in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was recently filled by President Donald Trump.
Cassidy told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that mental health issues are common across lines of class, politics, race and location. He said he gets nods of agreement from audiences in both the Lower 9th Ward or in St. Tammany Parish, because families across the state have had relatives or friends suffer from mental illness.
Obviously, funding at the federal and state level is part of the solution for mental health treatment, which can be expensive and beyond the means of many families. But making the system better is a worthy goal: Cassidy said he hopes that worthwhile programs can be expanded as others are fixed or eliminated.
But like the seemingly small matter of physician reimbursement suggests, a lot of what Cassidy wants involves coordination of care. He said that the first incidence of a psychotic episode should be the last, so long as all the problems are addressed then.
“That is my goal,” he said of the new law. We hope he achieves it.
Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/
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Sept. 14
Daily Comet of Thibodaux on legislators and Gov. John Bel Edwards having to find a way to close an estimated $1 billion gap in next year’s budget:
Louisiana’s legislators and governor will have to work together in the coming months to find a way to close an estimated $1 billion gap in next year’s budget.
Although those officials have been aware of the approaching crisis, they have been unable to reach any consensus on how to address the problem of $1 billion in taxes that will expire next year.
Now, though, time is becoming an even more important consideration.
House Speaker Taylor Barras, a Republican, now says he expects his colleagues in the House and Senate to be more willing to compromise and craft a plan.
“I think people are a little more willing to generally understand because the deadline’s a little closer. They’re a little bit more engaged, and I’m encouraged by that,” Barras said.
Louisianans must hope that is the case, but so far, there has been little cause for optimism.
Barras certainly sounds like the Legislature could be on the right track. And Gov. John Bel Edwards has urged lawmakers to start talking to one another about ways the state can feasibly approach the budget problems. But Edwards has said he won’t call a special session to address the budget unless there has been some progress in the House toward a possible solution.
“I am hesitant to convene another special session without meaningful input from, and a concerted effort by, House leadership to help identify a viable path forward,” Edwards wrote to Barras.
The crux of the problem is that for years now, Louisiana has spent more money than it takes in in revenue.
Year after year, and many times during the year, state officials have had to cut spending to plug holes in the budget. They have also had to use a series of budget gimmicks such as plugging holes with one-time money from, among other sources, the “rainy day fund.”
Now, with all of its savings exhausted, continuing budget pressures and the loss of $1 billion in taxes, the problem takes on a new urgency - though one that comes as no surprise.
Lawmakers passed the $1 billion in taxes last year and set next year as the expiration. The thought was that the temporary taxes would allow them time to come to a longer-term solution.
So far, that pursuit has been fruitless.
But if Barras can broker a compromise in the House, perhaps there is hope that it will gain favor in the Senate and with Edwards.
In any event, Barras and the House GOP members must be willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with one another, with the Senate and with the governor.
If everyone at the table comes with willingness to compromise and a determination to find a solution, it can be done.
Now, we have to see if there is enough political leadership and will to arrive at such a solution.
Online: https://www.dailycomet.com/
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