Production funding for
this program is provided
by the Fred B.
and Ruth B. Zigler Foundation
of Jennings, Louisiana.
Visit the Zigler Museum Tuesday
through Saturday from 9 to 5
and Sunday from 1 to 5,
featuring
a distinctive collection
of European
and American fine
art and wildlife dioramas
and by the Louisiana
Trial Lawyers Association.
LTLA members
work for consumers rights,
workplace safety
and for equal and fair
representation
before a court of law.
Tonight on Louisiana:
The State We're In.
Every few years, it seems,
another group
takes a crack at figuring out
what's wrong with the way
Louisiana does business.
Is this just another study group
or is real change
just around the corner
just too long?
Plus, Health Secretary
Donna Shalala in Louisiana
for a health care forum
that leaves more
questions than answers
[Music]
From LPB,
this is
Louisiana's premiere newsmagazine
with correspondents Arcie Chapa
and Jeff Duhe
and your host, Robert Collins.
Good evening.
On the program tonight,
we unofficially kick off
our 17th
year of in-depth
coverage of events
at the state capitol.
This year's
legislative session
begins on the 25th.
And tonight,
and in the upcoming
editions of this program,
we'll be taking a look
at the major money issues
facing the lawmakers.
Also tonight, America's
secretary of health
and Human Services,
Donna Shalala, talks
about health care in Louisiana.
That a bit later.
First, the state budget.
It's been eight months
since our first story
on a group of citizens meeting
to sort
through Louisiana's
money problems
and try to come up
with some solutions.
Tonight,
an update on that citizens group
whose official title is secure.
Jeff Duhe tells us
what the group has come up with
so far.
Well, I'm not
convinced that it's
going out of control.
It's totally out of hand.
In preparation
for the upcoming fiscal session,
lawmakers have already begun
to comb through the state budget
and this time
with a fine tooth comb.
This year
will see the first session
devoted exclusively
to money matters.
What the state can afford,
what the state can expect
in revenues from taxes,
especially energy production,
and how much legislators
are willing
to give up
in this early effort
to balance a budget
that is at least $350
million in the red this year
and will be
at least $700
million short in 1996.
I think that we're on
on a train ride from here.
Especially when a
disproportionate share.
This week,
a joint committee on the budget
heard their fiscal analysts
drag out a familiar list of cuts
to consolidate actions
and accounting changes.
Are we going to be in
a situation
where we're going to
have a crisis
or we're going
to create a crisis
over the Medicaid problem
in the next year
and be in a situation
where we're now
going to be faced
with $1,000,000,000 deficit?
They wanted to get
an early start,
but slowing down
the process is a natural
political turf battle.
For example,
Senator John Guidry represents
a mostly black urban
quarter of Baton Rouge,
where in lies
Earl K. Long Hospital,
the only medical option
for many of Guidry's supporters.
Is it out of place
for him to ask for more money
and better management
at the hospital
that cares for
so many of his constituents?
Because you see,
it was this budget committee
and it was this legislature
who was raping and pillaging
the public hospitals
of this state.
I resent the fact
that we took the money
out of the OC
in the first place.
I resent that.
Well, let me say this.
This state has never deprived
anybody any type of health care.
When the last time you
went there, Bo. Well,
you were right.
I'm sorry.
And this is the
order of the day.
So many needs business,
so little of the proverbial pie
to go around. It's business.
And to me it's important.
It's as important to me
as Southeastern is to you.
Thank you, sir.
In the midst of the fray,
frustration.
And sometimes of stagnation,
which from time
to time has begged
for an above
the fray
set of equitable solutions.
Every few years,
it seems
the thing to do is gather
some outsiders together
and have them investigate
what's wrong
with state government
and then find ways to fix it.
This time around
is called SECURE,
the Select Council on Revenues
and Expenditures,
and this is SECURE.
Men and women meeting
since August
to plot
where the state
should go from here.
How to retract ourselves
from unnecessary infighting,
how to cut,
consolidate and
change accounting.
Lee Griffin
is one of those outsiders.
He's chairman
and CEO of Premier Bank.
The securities
job comes in two phases.
The report that will be out
shortly is a Phase one report.
Phase two report will be April
of '95.
And the first phase
kind of
takes a look
at some of the things that are
obvious, things
that we can do
kind of short term
to save some dollars
and to improve the state.
It took a look
at cash management
organization
and staffing at the state level
and personnel and benefits
and in the cash management area.
Let's talk about it.
Our analysis
to date indicates
that we could save the state
$65 million,
and I use the word
save to mean
that we can increase the income
and reduce the expenses
by consolidating
our cash management
efforts throughout the state.
We have over 35 or so
individual cash management
efforts going on in the state.
We need to consolidate that.
We need to be able
to invest some of our 8g money
in equities.
Right now,
the law does not allow
any 8g money
to be invested in equities
where we're I mean, we've
the world has gone by here
where other funds throughout
all the rest of the states
are investing in equities
by a portion not,
you know,
maybe 25%
or whatever of the fund
so that you can keep up
with inflation
and take advantage of the growth
in this country.
We have 138
payroll systems.
Exxon has one.
Why does the state need
138 payroll systems,
138 places
where checks are written
to make make payroll?
If we consolidate that,
we'll have not only
operating savings,
but we'll be able to again
consolidate our handling of cash
a lot better
and make some
great improvements.
The secure group includes
only four members
of the legislature.
Senate President Sammy
Nunez, Speaker of the House
John Alario,
Senate President Pro
Tem Dennis
Bagneris and House
Point Man on Money,
Steve Theriot,
the other so-called outsiders.
Kevin Reilly,
the Secretary
of Economic Development.
There's Red Bourg,
well-known lobbyist
and treasurer for the AFL-CIO.
Lafayette will recognize
Parish Council President
Walter Como.
Dr.
Gary Cook
is president of Albemarle
Chemical used to be Ethyl Corp.
John Cordero is president
of Louisiana Power and Light.
George Tin Egg is a partner
in a New Orleans law firm.
Al Donovan
is executive council
to Edwin Edwards.
Kay Foreman is a Lafayette
political consultant.
John Grantham
represents Northeast
Louisiana University.
There's Dan Juneau,
head of the Louisiana
Association of Business
and Industry LABI there.
And there's Jonathan Roberts
of Southern University.
And Bobby Simpson,
the mayor of the city of Baker
Monroe's
Sharon Taylor is on the school
board there.
Erica Schwartz
is student government
president of Loyola
in New Orleans.
Not here today.
The president of the Board
of Trustees
of Colleges
and Universities,
the president
of the largest teacher
union, PAR's
Mark Drennen,
the president
of the optimistic oil company,
another lawyer
and another student
body president.
Was there a point
when someone
may have said something
that you were actually
surprised by,
something you thought, gee,
I didn't know
or I didn't think that folks
actually thought this?
What really impressed me
was the fact that these people
who really don't know
the workings of state government
became so familiar
with the internal structure
of the
of the state government
and also very impressed with the
and this
is, quote unquote,
by some of the people
that the staff of
both the committees
of both the legislatures,
both the Senate and the House
and the private sector
people who are here
are very impressive
and know that we can solve
the problem of this state
if we adhere to them.
The problem
is going to be passing
these things
through the process,
passing them
through the legislative process
in a constitutional process.
It seems like
another of those studies that
you could have done with
that excellent staff
with your 39 auditors
here at the Senate,
an equal number in the House.
Those folks,
if they're so good,
they can come up with these kind
of common sense solutions.
They do it all the time for
regular legislation.
Why can't we ever seem to listen
to just the regular auditors
without having to come up with
with a big document,
a big committee like this?
The problem is
that when you have
problems that address themselves
from a
constitutional standpoint,
that you've got to pass that
by the public.
Now, there may be
some interests out there
who do not want to address this,
solve the problem
the same way
that the legislature indicated
that they think
it ought to be solved.
So we've got to look at that.
What what what I'm saying?
Of course, it's another study,
but it's a good study
and it's one
that has a lot of input
from a lot of people.
It's one we've never had
the we've never had
a consulted team
from outside the state
or from inside the state
that have looked at
ten or 12 other states
that have managed
that same type of problem
that people have outside
this area, outside the state.
They're looking at it
from a different perspective.
What Secure has produced
so far is a draft of what
they will eventually propose
to the legislature.
It contains
dozens of suggestions on cuts,
consolidation
and accounting changes.
Among them, add 20 auditors
and see if they
can do a better job
managing state money
than the private companies
are doing for us now.
Move up the deadline
for paying state income taxes,
make the lottery
pay up its share each month,
use standardized tax forms
and get more machines
and people to process them.
Invest more education,
trust fund money,
consolidate 130 different
payroll centers,
streamline management
of state workers,
replace the state worker
rating system
with an appraisal system,
Increase training
for state workers.
Simplify the benefit package
for state workers.
Listen to the
legislative auditor and abolish
40 boards and commissions.
Request the Board of Regents
continue its ongoing
review of college
programs,
continue to operate the
charity hospitals system,
study more policies, find
efficiencies,
cut, consolidate
and change accounting.
He called in
and made some wordsmithing
change.
Normally,
big changes
don't occur overnight.
They evolve and ultimately
you have to face the music.
I think Louisiana is at
the place
where it's
got to face the music.
Okay.
The plan is
get a group of people,
diverse people together,
come up with a list of ideas.
And the third part
sounds kind of nebulous
to me, though.
Well, that idea of taking action
will be taken rather than.
Well, sure.
I mean,
I mean, it's
easy to come up
with ideas sometimes,
but it's all hard to implement
a lot of things
through the political process.
But think about our timing,
which we didn't
create just happened. Okay.
The elections
will come up in the fall in '95
our phase one report
submitted shortly,
our a phase
two report will be submitted
April of '95.
People will be running
for office
in the fall of that year.
Now, why would this
be a wonderful document
for people to say, to endorse
and say,
this is good government,
this is what our
state needs to do?
I'm afraid
it's gonna end up on the shelf
just like the others
in the long run.
I think
it's going to run another year
and some of the recommendations
are just going
to get put back on the shelf
and it's going to be
another expenditure
that the state don't need
at the stage of key.
And a lot of it is state funds.
Just take it as an example.
The legislative auditor
has assigned,
I think, 32
people who are working
daily on this.
That is a cost
to State government.
Those 32 people could
be used elsewhere
to help us control some of the
problems in state government.
If there are
already complaints,
this is just
another study group.
The next steps
are even more controversial
and potentially
more disappointing.
The secure report
will be presented for action
to the legislature
and a lot of it
is not going to be done today.
A lot of it won't be done
this year.
It's going to take a phase
one or phase two
and possibly a phase three,
but it's an ongoing project.
It's an ongoing workload
that this legislature
has adopted
in conjunction
with the private sector
funds raised
by the private sector
going into this project.
So, you know,
you've got some well-meaning
people out there
who want something to happen.
There have been study
groups in the past,
but there's been no study
group like this before
because we've got
just about every
special interest group
represented on this commission.
And that was done by design
because we wanted
to get the people
that could really make
a difference in this state
to get
together, put their
heads together, cooperate
if possible.
And we've had great success.
So far
in trying to figure out together
what we've got to
do for this state.
And now you find
people
that might have
a different opinion
than you have or that I have.
But we've got a lot
of good people in this state
that care about the state.
Now the group heads into phase
two of its work,
studying the problems
in more detail.
A summit
for the area of education
is proposed.
More details
for cuts, consolidations
and accounting
changes are called for.
Secure will continue
to talk about problems.
Whether any change comes
from all that talk
and fact finding
is, of course, another matter.
Chairman Lee Griffin
says the group can only achieve
real success
in pushing
for the reforms that it wants.
If people learn more about
what the group is proposing
and then those people
put pressure
on lawmakers to pass
secures recommendations.
Ordinary
citizens spoke up in
another area this week.
Health care reform was the topic
and the US Secretary of Health
and Human Services
was the target
of some pointed questions
at a town meeting in Baton
Rouge this week.
Arcie Chapa has some highlights
from that gathering.
Almost 15 years ago, Dr.
Gary Wiltz was fresh
out of medical school
and in need of a job.
He found himself in Franklin,
only 100 miles from his home
in New Orleans.
He came to work at the
Teche Action Clinic,
a community
based health care center
founded for the area poor
by the Southern Mutual Health
Association.
For years, the clinic
struggled to keep physicians.
They obtained Wiltz
through the National Health
Service Corps.
The program pays tuition
for medical students
in return for a three year
commitment to work in areas
where doctors are in
short supply.
I tell the story that I used to
take out my calendar,
as my wife could attest
to that first year,
I couldn't wait
to get back to New Orleans.
But about halfway
through his tour of duty,
he decided to stay in Franklin
and become the full time
medical director of the clinic.
Today,
he routinely turns down, offers
to move to urban areas
where he could
double his salary.
The beneficiaries
of his decision
are the poor
and uninsured of Saint
Mary Parish,
who receive quality, low
cost, routine medical care
without having to travel
40 miles to Lafayette
to visit a large university
medical center.
A lot of my friends
in New Orleans were surprised
that I elected to stay.
But as I mentioned
to many people,
if you can
put your head down at night
and feel good
about what
you've accomplished
in those days,
and that to me is the bottom
line of what you're
trying to do.
And when you're helping people
and the people you're serving
are truly needy and grateful,
I think that's
the biggest reward
you can get in medicine.
The rest of the state
is not so lucky.
While Louisiana takes pride
in its wide ranging
charity hospital system,
basic medical care,
such as treatment
for colds, flu, sore throat,
routine gynecological exams
is non-existent
in many parts of the state.
For people
who don't have
private insurance, which
this week.
Wiltz, along
with a group of experts
ranging from state officials
to consumer groups, advocates
joined Donna Shalala,
secretary of the U.S.
Department of Health
and Human Services
for a town meeting on health
care reform.
He used the opportunity
to push the community
health center concept.
Community health centers,
in my mind,
represent to medicine
what Head
Start has done to education.
We're probably
the best kept secret
in this country.
We will run
if you want to talk about
consumer responsive,
consumer sensitive boards.
50% of our
board of directors
and we're nonprofit have to
be consumer representatives.
We operate 80% of
the people that I treat.
80% of the people
that we see are uninsured
and they're not welfare people.
They're working people.
A lot of them
are schoolteachers.
A lot of them are middle
class people who cannot afford
health insurance.
They can afford
maybe two or $300 a month,
but they can't afford
$500 a month premiums.
So what they do
is they choose to go without.
The result
is that large numbers
of the state's
citizens depend on charity
hospitals for the routine care
that is usually provided
in a private doctor's
office or clinic.
That means they must
often travel
many miles to one of the state's
nine charity institutions.
And when they get there,
long waits
or the order of the day.
It is not unusual for patients
to sit unattended for 10 hours
before seeing a doctor.
Rose Forrest,
secretary of Department
of Health and Hospitals knows,
the system is inefficient.
Do you know that
we need
health care reform in Louisiana?
We believe
that we too
are in crisis in Louisiana.
We know
also that
we are a charitable state.
We run a system of
charity hospitals
that have been
all things to all people.
I try to be all things
for all people
all of these years.
But clearly,
we also know that
that system is broken.
And like most of the rest
of the systems.
Well, President Clinton's
health care plan promises
to offer some relief
by providing universal coverage
for all citizens.
Not everyone agrees
the government
should be involved
in the business of health
care, liberty
and organized business.
And this includes,
for the most part,
the National Federation
of Business
believes that we need
to have
market based health care reform,
not business taxes,
not business mandates.
Voluntary purchasing.
There's a lot that's
right with the system.
Competition works
every place else.
Competition can be made to work.
And this context,
that's where
the focus ought to be.
Marcus Carson
with the Louisiana
Health Care Campaign
says the American health care
system is simply not working.
We pay roughly
$100 billion today
to support a private health
insurance bureaucracy
that makes government
look efficient.
It not only drives up
health care costs.
Thank you.
Not only does it drive up cost
and deny
people health insurance,
but also rationed your care.
And both doctors
and patients
are increasingly frustrated
with the private
insurance bureaucrats
who intervene between
doctor and patient
and interfere
with medical treatment.
And we have eight more minutes.
So we're going to get to
as many questions as possible.
Yes, I will try to give
shorter answers.
I'll be fast, actually.
I'll give you a break.
I'd like to direct
my question to Mr. Frost.
My name is Leslie Leininger,
and I would like to know why
the businesses
that you represent
are supporting, By and large,
the current system,
like a system
in which it costs $750
to build a car in America
because of the health
costs built
in, as opposed to 250 in Canada.
And my second question is
why does your group seem
to be opposed to
comprehensive health coverage?
Well, because
not to sound like the gentleman
who kept
referring to the Constitution.
It is still a free country.
And if Wal-Mart chooses
not to provide
health insurance
to its employees,
then the people in this room
are free
not to shop at Wal-Mart.
The employees are free
not to work at Wal-Mart
or to organize.
There are still avenues
for people out there
to make decisions
that affect their own lives
and to take responsibility
for those decisions.
Our members, by and large,
will make the right decision
given the freedom
and the opportunity to do that.
Our goal in this process
is to make sure
that those freedoms
and opportunities
aren't artificially directed
and restricted
by government programs.
But frankly,
as I pointed out earlier,
if you look at government,
their track record
is worse than ours.
And there's no evidence
that they can do it
better than we can. And
Mr..
Frost, could I make
two comments
on your comment first?
If Wal-Mart chooses
not to provide health coverage
for its employees,
the rest of us pay.
That's the point.
There is a mandate
in this country.
There is a mandate
in this country.
And that is that
anyone that walks
into an emergency room
in this country
has to get taken care of
so the rest of us pay
when part of the community
doesn't cover their employees.
Second,
I really don't understand
why it isn't
in the interest
of American business.
And the businessmen
I know believe
it's in their interest
to slow down
the growth of health costs.
It's been called
the last great social policy
debate of the century
since the mid 1940s,
when Harry Truman
proposed a system
for national coverage.
Health care has been an issue
of varying importance
in 11 administrations.
This administration
has made it a top priority,
and it doesn't intend
to let special interest groups
slow down the debate
that's going along.
Finally this evening,
we want to tell you
about a contest
to find
the best geography
students in Louisiana.
What is Spain's
cheap industrial city
along the French border?
Well, for these four
through eighth graders,
the nail biting
and the waiting for an easier
question lasted all day.
103 finalists
met at LSU for this,
the sixth annual Geography
bee.
It was the birthplace
of Dixieland jazz
and more recently, a
zydeco music geography.
Education has moved
into high gear with programs
like we're in
the World is Carmen San Diego.
Last year's
national representative
from Louisiana was Ralph Kerry.
Ever since I looked at the first
map, Louisiana,
I trace that map over and over
and over and all, like,
all my notebooks and stuff.
And and every time I would see
a different map,
I would trace it over and over
in our finger like,
Hey, look,
the city of living gray.
I wonder what Leningrad is like.
I look up and encyclopedia.
What Leningrad looked like.
And I imagined myself
being there.
So the answer is, I mean,
these are the best
geography students
from more than 400 schools
in Louisiana.
They compete for a chance
to go to Washington, D.C.,
and participate
in the national bee.
Plus,
just like the Carmen
San Diego game show,
the prizes are real.
Thousands of dollars
for college.
Congratulations
to all of our winning students,
as well as to all of those
who gave it a great transfer.
By the way,
the winner of this year's
state round is Michael Bobo,
an eighth grader at Vernon Hanes
Middle School in Metairie.
Well, that is our program
for this evening.
Our story
on flooding along
the Amite
River will be seen
at a later date.
We invite you to join us again
next week
when we will continue
to preview upcoming issues
in the legislative session,
as well as the special session
that's just been called
for the week of the 17th.
Until then.
That's the state we're in.
Production funding for
this program is provided
by the Fred B.
and B. Zigler Foundation
of Jennings, Louisiana.
Visit the Zigler Museum Tuesday
through Saturday from 9 to 5
and Sunday
from 1 to 5,
featuring
a distinctive collection
of European
and American fine
art and wildlife dioramas
and by the Louisiana
Trial Lawyers Association.
LTLA members
work for consumers
rights, workplace
safety and for equal and fair
representation before
a court of law.