KEY TAKEAWAYS: Tulane’s Newcomb Institute says improving health outcomes is essential to Louisiana‘s future workforce and economic growth. Researchers cite high maternal mortality, premature deaths and health disparities as factors contributing to population decline. The report calls for g reater investment in maternal care, rural healthcare, safety-net programs and underserved communities. Officials say stronger healthcare systems can improve quality of life, reduce Medicaid costs and help retain Louisiana families.   A new report argues that Louisiana’s future population and economic growth depends on increasing investments in healthcare services and passing policies that address health disparities. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the state’s population has largely declined since 2020 as more people leave the state. Far fewer people are moving to Louisiana, raising questions about sustaining the state’s workforce and economic development. Researchers from Tulane University‘s Newcomb Institute say these changes are happening alongside “persistent health burdens” — including high maternal mortality and premature death rates — that hurt well-being and economic opportunity. “We have an aging population. We have persistent maternal and health inequities. 
We also have premature mortality inequities,” said report co-author Anita Raj, the Newcomb Institute’s executive director during a webinar on Wednesday. “These are affecting our economic competitiveness. They’re affecting our labor force growth.” During the webinar, New Orleans Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Jennifer Avegno said the report, also released Wednesday, affirmed many of the state’s well-known health challenges. But she said it’s important for residents and decisionmakers to understand “that the health of a community, and its economic vitality are completely intertwined.” Multiple research studies have linked improved health outcomes to economic growth. “Health is wealth,” Avegno said. As the Trump administration cuts federal funding for programs that improve health outcomes — such as Medicaid, food assistance for children and Head Start — public and women’s health advocates said it will be hard for a state like Louisiana, with a small tax base, to make up the difference. In the Newcomb Institute report, the researchers emphasize that while signs of poor health are widespread, the impact of the health burdens aren’t shared equally. According to National Institutes of Health data, Louisiana had the fifth-highest rate of premature deaths in the country. The state’s rate is 40% higher than the national average from 2021 to 2023. The Newcomb report said the state’s high death rate contributes to its slow population growth. The rate of premature deaths worsened across that timeframe when the researchers looked at race. Black Louisianans died prematurely most frequently, at a rate 80% higher than the national average, followed by the state’s Native residents. The Newcomb report said the state’s high death rate contributes to its slow population growth. Increasing the availability of maternity, sexual and reproductive healthcare could also help boost the population and improve the workforce. Louisiana consistently reports one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the country and most of the women who die are Black. But the majority of those deaths are also preventable, and the Tulane researchers said several evidence-based initiatives implemented over the past few years show that progress is possible. The report calls for investing in safety net systems on top of improving medical care to address factors such as violence, the lack of paid family leave and inflexible job conditions that make it harder to access the care. Maternal health affects infants’ health; Louisiana reported the second-highest proportion of babies born at a low birth weight after Mississippi. When babies are born below a certain weight, it can signal that their bodies aren’t fully developed and are at a higher risk of complications. Avegno said New Orleans is working with the state to expand the city’s universal postpartum home visiting program. Over the past two years, the city has sent a nurse to the home of every person who gave birth at Ochsner Baptist or Touro Hospital to check in on the health of the mother and newborn. The deputy mayor said the nurses have caught problems early, and the program has reduced Medicaid spending on new mothers. “I think if we can find those really critical places to invest, that we all agree are worth it, we have some real opportunities,” she said. The state’s high rate of teen births could be another impact of limited access to sexual health education and reproductive healthcare. Though the rate of teen births has declined since the early 2000s, Louisiana still ranked third in the country in 2022 with a rate 72% higher than the national rate. Investments in early childhood and sexual education could pay off in the long-term, but Ellevate Louisiana CEO Julia Stokes, a former state representative, said there isn’t a clear source for funding. During Wednesday’s webinar, Stokes said her group reviewed the state’s budget projections with state lawmakers before this year’s legislative session. “When we looked at the out years of the fiscal trajectory of the state, they didn’t look good,” Stokes said. Insurance access was a bright spot in the report. Since the state’s Medicaid expansion in 2016, Louisiana had fewer uninsured adults than much of the country in 2023. In some rural parishes, more than half of the residents rely on Medicaid for health insurance. Researchers also highlighted that many adults have a primary care doctor — which helps prevent health emergencies and reduces the demand for emergency rooms — and most children receive vaccinations. But at least one group of Louisianans significantly struggles to access health insurance and care. In 2023, more than a quarter of Hispanic or Latino residents were uninsured — which some immigration advocates worry has worsened with new laws that intimidate immigrants and their families away from applying to public benefits like Medicaid. The researchers call on policymakers and elected officials to take actions that target communities with the worst health outcomes, increase the number of maternal care providers and invest in rural healthcare providers and hospitals. “People are having families. They want to have kids. They want big families, and they want them to grow up here,” Avegno said. “But if we don’t fix the foundational underpinnings, they’re not going to be here.
And if they’re here, they’re going to be less healthy than their counterparts.” This article first appeared on Verite News New Orleans and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. ...read more read less