Lawmakers advance next Louisiana hospital privatization plan

Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration pushed ahead Tuesday with privatization plans for an LSU hospital that cares for Louisiana's poor and uninsured in central Louisiana, despite the recent rejection of federal financing plans for other hospital outsourcing deals. Lawmakers appear willing to go along with the effort. The House Health and Welfare Committee voted 10-8 for a Senate-backed measure that would authorize the shuttering of the university-run Huey P. Long Medical Center in Pineville and move its services to two nearby private hospitals, CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and Rapides Regional Medical Center.