Healthcare Spending in Louisiana

With 18.7% of the state’s population living at or below the poverty line, and the median income clocking in at around $42,944 (according to 2012 statistics), Louisiana is among those states of the union that hold the highest poverty rates and lowest median incomes in our nation (Noss, 2013). The United States national averages (according to 2012 statistics) are a median income that is $51,017 per family per year, and a 15% poverty rate, respectively (Noss, 2013).

Another state that holds similar statistics to Louisiana is South Carolina. Both states share a similar population level—they each hover around a population level of 4,775,000—with South Carolina’s median income being $44,623 per year, and the level of their “Palmetto State” population that lives at or below the level of poverty is 18.3% (according to 2012 statistics) (Noss, 2013). Unfortunately, many of the southern states have found themselves in a similar holding pattern of South Carolina and Louisiana due to shifts in traditional American manufacturing practices (i.e. the southern states no longer being America’s main source of cotton and other farmed goods), mechanization of long-established industry, and natural disasters.

While this state tends to lag behind, or negatively exceed, the national average on many fronts, Louisiana does spend roughly the same amount on healthcare per person as the rest of the United States. In 2009, Louisiana was reported to have spent around $6,795 on average per individual that year (Noss, 2013). The national average was reported to be at around $6,815 that same year, which is just slightly higher than Louisiana (Noss, 2013).

Unfortunately, at 23%, the “Pelican State” also holds one of the highest percentages for uninsured, working adults in the country. The United States national average for uninsured adults is 15.7% ("Louisiana quickfacts from," 2014). On a positive note, they do fare much better when looking at the rate of uninsured children, rolling in at 5.3%, while the national average of uninsured children is around 10% ("Louisiana quickfacts from," 2014).

In 2009, a large portion of Louisiana residents—approximately 672,626–were enrolled in Medicaid. That same year, half of all Medicaid enrollees were children, with Louisiana spending, on average, $2,148 per child and $7,356 per adult every year, out of their state health insurance budget. Despite having such a high number of their population enrolled in state health insurance, Louisiana ranks 50th in overall health of its population and 49th in the health of their children (Kliebert, 2012). They have some of the highest instances of unnecessary emergency room visits, untreated Type II Diabetes patients (despite having one of the highest national averages of Type II Diabetes among members of its population) as well as a high percentage of breast cancer deaths, and a low percentage of babies receiving quality care with their monthly check-ups and physicals (Kliebert, 2012). With multiple statistics pointing towards Louisiana healthcare trending away from preventative medical care and towards a mentality of treating the symptom as opposed to the disease state, as well as a legacy of misallocation of spending, this is an unfortunate, inefficient system of healthcare for a population that desperately needs a well-functioning, competent state mandated insurance system.

References

Kliebert, K. (2012). Quick facts about Louisiana’s health. Retrieved from http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/38

Noss, A. (2013, September). Household income: 2012. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acsbr12-02.pdf

U.S. Department of Commerce, (2014). Louisiana quickfacts from the United States census bureau. Retrieved from website: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22000.html