BATON ROUGE (AP) — New Medicaid-financed centers aimed at helping "medically fragile" children won't be created in Louisiana for one year.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed into law a measure placing a one-year moratorium on pediatric day health care centers, not allowing any new ones into the state-funded program until July 2017.
The moratorium begins July 1.
Edwards' office says the governor signed the bill by Rep. Rogers Pope, a Denham Springs Republican, this week.
Supporters say the temporary halt to new licenses will give the health department time to improve oversight for a four-year-old Medicaid program whose cost has grown to $30 million this year. The department is rewriting program regulations.
Opponents say the moratorium will deny specialized health services to disabled children.
For more information about House Bill 498 click here.