Campaign Promises

Departments -> Health & Human Services -> Medical Infrastructure


ItemHealth & Human Services
Medical InfrastructureGrade
HE-39 The Promise: "...will rebuild broken facilities and provide incentives, such as loan forgiveness, to lure medical professionals back to the region."
When/Where: Obama-Biden Plan: "Rebuilding the Gulf Coast and Preventing Future Catastrophes", dated 09/11/08.
Source: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/550006/barack-obama-2008-rebuilding-the-gulf-coast-and.pdf
Status:On 08/29/05 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city's health care infrastructure was devastated with its inpatient bed capacity reduced from 4,080 in the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemine and St. Bernard to 664.

During President Obama's tenure in office, work continued to improve the availability of medical facilities in New Orleans. Examples: (1) New Orleans East Hospital, 80 beds, opened 08/14; (2) University Medical Center, 446 beds, opened 08/15; (3) VA Hospital Complex, 200 beds, opened 11/16.

The number of ambulatory care clinics in the New Orleans area was reduced from 90 to about 19 by Hurricane Katrina. As of CY2016, there were about 195 fully functional care centers and clinics in/around New Orleans.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, an estimated 4,500 physicians were dislocated, approximately 35% of them being primary care doctors. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stepped in with a $100M Primary Care and Stabilization Grant (PCASG) to support neighborhood primary and behavioral health care system, administered by the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI).

The College Cost Reduction Act, signed into law by President Obama in 07/09, allowed students to pay off loans backed by federal guarantees at rates tied to their income, and have those loans forgiven after 10 years of public service in all levels of government and 501(c)3 or nonprofit organizations. This program served as a means to provide loan forgiveness for some physicians to return to New Orleans.

This promise was fulfilled.
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HE-40 The Promise: "...will fight to establish a major medical complex in downtown New Orleans that will serve the entire community."
When/Where: Obama-Biden Plan: "Rebuilding the Gulf Coast and Preventing Future Catastrophes", dated 09/11/08.
Source: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/550006/barack-obama-2008-rebuilding-the-gulf-coast-and.pdf
Status:Ground was broken on 04/18/11 for a new $1.2B University Medical Center (UMC) to be built in New Orleans. The facility opened for business on 08/01/15.

Strategically located to permit the sharing of facilities and services with the future New Orleans VA Medical Center (opened in 11/16 with 200 beds), the new UMC occupies 37 acres in the Biosciences District and acts as a Level 1 trauma center to provide critical care for the area's most severely injured patients. The bed count for this new facility is 446. To avoid a repeat of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, the UMC was constructed more than 20 feet above sea level and can withstand a Category 3 hurricane.

This promise was fulfilled.
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