[StBernard] LA GOP spokesman: Latest Boasso attack shameless, hideous, and false

[Westley Annis]

Latest Boasso attack shameless, hideous, and false

Statement by LA GOP spokesman Michael DiResto on new Walter Boasso TV ad
attacking

Bobby Jindal's character and healthcare record

 

It's awful that the state Medicaid agency made an erroneous determination in
a Medicaid eligibility case, but Walter Boasso's attack on Bobby Jindal is
simply over the top, off the mark, loose with the truth, and hideous.
What's really shameless is that Walter Boasso, for his own political gain,
would exploit one family's painful Medicaid eligibility dispute to demonize
Bobby Jindal and distort his outstanding service to the people of this
state.

 

Two days ago, when discussing the attack ads he planned to use against
Jindal, Walter Boasso was quoted by the media saying "We'll do whatever it
takes."  It's now clear what Boasso meant - that he's apparently willing to
throw basic human decency by the wayside in his grab for power.

 

The real story of this campaign is the depths that the Jindal attackers are
willing to go to assassinate his character, to distract voters from the
issues and the attackers' own lack of vision, and to find ever lower ways to
make this one of the dirtiest campaigns in the nation's history.  First they
distorted Jindal's Christian beliefs to try to exploit religious bigotry,
and now they exploit one family's personal tragedy to distort Jindal's
record of compassionate service.  The first attack backfired, and so will
this one.

 

The pathetic part about Boasso's attack is that he thinks he will get away
with using the same trick on the healthcare issue, to deceitfully demonize
Jindal as uncaring, that went uncorrected four years ago.  Not this time.
As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
The difference this time is that the people of Louisiana know Bobby Jindal
better than that, have seen his commitment to improving their quality of
life in action, have witnessed his record of accomplishment firsthand, and
they won't be fooled again.

 

The bottom line is that, contrary to the insinuation made about this
unfortunate case in Boasso's ad, it cannot be said to have resulted from
cost-cutting policies pushed for by Bobby Jindal during his tenure as state
health secretary.  And while this case certainly deserves sympathy from us
all and understandably provokes anger and sadness from those involved, the
allegations in the ad against Bobby Jindal's record are simply misplaced and
the accusations about his character are just inappropriate.

 

As for the specific claims in the ad itself:

 

First, the ad makes an emotional charge that Bobby Jindal threw someone "out
on the streets."  Not true.  While the Department of Health and Hospitals is
responsible for determining patient eligibility for Medicaid coverage at
nursing homes, it is the responsibility and ethical obligation of every
healthcare provider in the state, including the nursing home involved in
this case, to act as the first line in making sure that every patient is
safe and accounted for.  If no contact is made to inform the family of the
patient's status, it is the nursing home itself that is derelict in its duty
and deserves condemnation.

 

Second, the ad claims that Bobby Jindal "broke the law."  Not true.  While a
lawsuit was filed against Jindal "in his capacity as Secretary," the court
held that the state Medicaid agency "improperly denied Medicaid funding
after the PASARR evaluation determined that the applicant required the level
of care provided by a nursing home."  While Medicaid eligibility disputes
are disappointingly all too common, and it's terribly unfortunate that the
state Medicaid agency made a wrong determination in this case, the
insinuation that Jindal personally or purposefully "broke the law" to harm
the applicant is false.

 

Third, the ad claims that Jindal "put people out of nursing homes and cut
mental health care."  While it's true Jindal trimmed waste and fraud from
the department's budget, and was hailed as a savior for turning the agency's
deep deficits into surplus, the reality is that when he first became
secretary the budget crisis placed many nursing homes across the state on
the brink of closing down.  If it hadn't been for Bobby Jindal, potentially
thousands of our neediest fellow citizens would have faced the grim reality
of being "put out of nursing homes."  Thanks to Bobby Jindal, they did not.

 

Furthermore, at the time, reductions in Medicaid spending for mental health
care were happening in states across the country precisely because they were
mandated by law, not because of a policy pushed for by Jindal.  The rule put
in place for "Mental Rehabilitation" and "Services for Nursing Facility
Residents" while Jindal served as secretary was directed by state and
federal law, and I quote:

 

"The Secretary shall implement reductions in the Medicaid program and as
necessary to control expenditures to the level approved in this schedule.
The Secretary is hereby directed to utilize various cost containment
measures to accomplish these reductions, including but not limited to
pre-certification, pre-admission screening, utilization review, and other
measures as allowed by federal law." [emphasis added]

 

Even so, while Medicaid mental healthcare cost reductions were being
mandated from on high, it's not at all clear that this mandate had anything
to do with the Medicaid eligibility case from Boasso's ad, and it is
irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

 

Finally, the ad is just out of bounds and wrong in its accusation that
"Bobby Jindal has no heart."  Every effort by Bobby Jindal in successfully
saving the state's healthcare system, and every policy he has enacted since
then and the reforms he champions today, show a heart as big as Louisiana
and one that cares deeply for every citizen of this state and for a better
future for their children and grandchildren.

 

 

-30-