A stark warning from Senate President Cameron Henry on federal Medicaid funding. During a webinar hosted by the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, the Republican from Metairie says due to changes the Senate is considering on President Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” Louisiana could be in for a huge loss.
“If we strictly went with the resolution of the idea, the declaration the President made, that would roughly be about $4 billion to the state,” Henry said.
Speaker Henry says if that happens, it would be back to the drawing board for state lawmakers who just finished hashing out a budget for the 2026 fiscal year.
“If this bill takes effect immediately, we’ll absolutely come back into a special session. No doubt about it. What we do there would not be pleasant, but we have to do it,” Henry warned.
Henry says he has been in close contact with Senator Bill Cassidy and Congressman Steve Scalise, and he says he hopes cooler heads will ultimately prevail in Washington.
“I’m hoping we get some type of a two or three-year implementation period with the ability to change things along the way.
That’s the most realistic thing we can ask our delegation for,” Henry said.
About 35% of Louisiana residents rely on Medicaid for health insurance. Louisiana spends about $15 billion a year on Medicaid, with federal money accounting for more than two-thirds of that amount.
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