BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ health secretary, who launched the Democrat’s Medicaid expansion program but faced repeated criticism from Republicans about her management of it, is leaving the Edwards administration as the governor begins his second term in office.
Rebekah Gee, a medical doctor who has led the Department of Health since 2016, is resigning from the position effective Jan. 31, the governor’s office announced Monday. She’s the second person to announce plans to exit Edwards’ Cabinet ahead of the new term, joining the Louisiana National Guard’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, who is retiring on Jan. 10.
Gee has a new job, but the Edwards administration didn’t disclose the position, saying her employer would announce that later.
“I look forward to continuing my work to improve health care for the people of this great state,” Gee wrote in her resignation letter to the governor. “Although I am excited for the next professional chapter, it will be hard to say goodbye to the Louisiana Department of Health. The last four years have been the most rewarding of my professional career.”
Gee’s successor wasn’t immediately named. Edwards spokeswoman Christina Stephens said the governor is searching for his next health secretary and only will name an interim agency leader if the search isn’t wrapped up by the end of the month when Gee is slated to exit.
Edwards praised Gee for rolling out his Medicaid expansion program, saying she’s “been on the front lines of this transformational improvement to health care in Louisiana.”
“Under her leadership, we brought health care to more than 460,000 hard-working adults who now have access to the medical services they need to live healthier lives, to fight chronic illness and, in some cases, survive,” the governor said in a statement.
But that Medicaid expansion program - and the health department’s management of Medicaid as its multibillion-dollar budget ballooned to nearly half of Louisiana’s state operating budget - rankled Republicans. They criticized spending levels and questioned whether Gee did enough to respond to audits that found waste and misspending.
GOP lawmakers repeatedly grilled health department officials over Edwards’ four-year term about reports from Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office that documented money spent on ineligible services and that suggested millions could have been spent on people who earned too much to receive the government-financed health insurance.
At one point, Republican U.S. Sen. John Kennedy called on Gee to resign, saying she didn’t show respect for taxpayer dollars.
The Republican Party of Louisiana applauded Gee’s resignation, calling her oversight of the $15 billion department “ruinous mismanagement” and suggesting she was a part-time leader. They also referenced concerns that anti-abortion groups raised about Gee when she was hired, that the secretary had ties to abortion rights organizations.
“This is an opportunity for Gov. Edwards to select a new (health) secretary who will not waste hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on fraud and abuse. Most of us are hopeful that the next LDH secretary is pro-life, and will bring much-needed competence to the department,” Rep. Blake Miguez, the new leader of the House Republican delegation, said in a statement.
Gee told lawmakers and critics that they ignored the benefits of Medicaid expansion, which dropped Louisiana’s uninsured rate below the national average. She said her department bolstered its computer systems, doing more frequent wage checks to ensure people in the Medicaid program were eligible, and worked to require improved health outcomes from Medicaid providers.
And she steadfastly defended the expansion of Medicaid - and her performance in office. She described Louisiana in her resignation letter as “a healthier state with improved access to health care” after her tenure.
Beyond expansion, Edwards also applauded Gee’s work to negotiate a new contract to provide hepatitis C treatment to Medicaid patients and prisoners, a contract that has greatly expanded access to medication and has been hailed as a model for other states. He called Gee a “champion for improved health outcomes for all the people of our state.”
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