‘COSBY SHOW’ ACTOR MALCOLM-JAMAL WARNER DIES 7A
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T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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T u e s d ay, J u ly 22, 2025
$2.00X
Prices rising on insurance maketplace Rule changes affecting Affordable Care Act cost, availability BY MARK BALLARD
Staff writer
WASHINGTON — Long before the recently enacted changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will be felt by the 1.86 million Louisianans on Medicaid, the new law likely will start pushing many Affordable Care Act beneficiaries off their private insurance, experts say. Myriad rule changes will even-
tually start touching many of the 785,000 Louisiana residents who enrolled in Medicaid as part of the expansion of the law dubbed “Obamacare.” More immediately, however, 292,994 self-employed or lowerincome Louisiana workers who acquired their insurance another way, through an Affordable Care Act marketplace, will have to pay dramatically higher prices when
they start applying Nov. 1 for their coverage next year. Insurers have filed for rate increases — at a median monthly cost of 15% more — for plans sold on the HealthCare.gov website, according to a Friday analysis by KFF, a San Francisco-based health policy research organization. A key part of the Affordable Care Act gives subsidies to buy insurance to people who make too
much money to qualify for Medicaid but financially struggle to buy private policies on their own. Generally, that’s defined as a household of four making between $48,226 and $66,625 annually but under some conditions up to $128,600. The state’s median household income is $60,023, about $20,000 below the national figure. The enhanced tax credits are scaled to income levels depending
DAILY HEAT INDEX RANGE
The heat index reflects how temperatures feel when combined with humidity.
TUESDAY
107 to 114
WEDNESDAY
107 to 114
THURSDAY
105 to 110
FRIDAY
100 to 106
Source: National Weather Service
Here comes the sun
on the healthcare insurance plan bought. Just like the private insurance bought through the workplace, different plans provide various options for coverage and thus range in price. In Louisiana, the Affordable Care Act credits made buying insurance easier for people who started making too much money and lost their Medicaid qualification, said Stacey Roussel, deputy director of Invest in Louisiana, a
ä See PRICES, page 4A
Trump releases FBI records on MLK Jr. Slain civil rights leader’s family opposes document dump BY BILL BARROW Associated Press
isiana is suppressing rain that would normally cool the state during the afternoons. “The combination of no rain, that suppression, and it being in the middle of the summer, we’re heating up really well,” Bannon said. The weather service recommends frequent breaks in the shade or air
The Trump administration has released records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate’s family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the “We ask those FBI first gathered the who engage records and turned them with the release over to the National Arof these files chives and Records Adto do so with ministration. empathy, In a lengthy statement released Monday, King’s restraint, and two living children, Marrespect for tin III, 67, and Bernice, our family’s 62, said their father’s continuing assassination has been grief.” a “captivating public curiosity for decades.” STATEMENT But the pair emphasized FROM MARTIN the personal nature of the matter, urging that LUTHER KING JR.’S CHILDREN “these files must be viewed within their full historical context.” The Kings got advance access to the records and had their own teams reviewing them. Those efforts continued even as the government granted public access. It was not immediately clear Monday whether the documents would shed any new light on King’s life, the Civil Rights Movement or his murder. “As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief — a devastating loss
ä See SUN, page 5A
ä See RECORDS, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
A construction worker hydrates while taking a break on the Pecue Lane overpass on Interstate 10 on Monday.
Officials warn of health risks as region faces triple-digit heat index BY AIDAN MCCAHILL Staff writer
A severe heat wave is impacting much of southern Louisiana and Mississippi this week, with temperatures expected to feel as hot as 110 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for most of south Louisiana, including New Orleans,
Slidell and LaPlace. The head index could climb between 107 and 114 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday, possibly triggering an extreme heat advisory. In Lafayette, temperatures could go as high as 106 degrees Tuesday. Heat index values reflect how temperatures feel when combined with humidity. According to Christopher Bannan, a weather service meteorologist, a ridge of high pressure over Lou-
Students get hands-on training at hospital summer program BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer
Symya Brown, who graduated from East Ascension High School in May, hopes to become a radiologist. Gavin Mitchell, a recent graduate from Donaldsonville High School, plans to work in the computer science field. Brilynn Watts, a student at Ascension Catholic High School in Donaldsonville, wants a career as an ultrasound tech or labor and delivery doctor.
WEATHER HIGH 97 LOW 77 PAGE 6B
None of the three knew each other until June, when they began a new summer camp program at Prevost Memorial Hospital in Donaldsonville. Six weeks later, they experienced mentoring from doctors and academics, worked in 14 different hospital departments and built new friendships with other students across the parish. Brown plans to study health care and science at Southeastern Louisiana University
ä See STUDENTS, page 5A
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................6D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-5D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
Respiratory therapist Gene Polk demonstrates a laryngoscope to Lamiah Anderson during the summer youth program at Prevost Memorial Hospital in Donaldsonville last week. STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
101ST yEAR, NO. 22