Louisiana Cutting Hospice Coverage

On December 14, 2012, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals announced elimination of Medicaid hospice care through June 30, 2014. The cuts go into effect February 1, 2013.  I wonder how the state economists figured this would save the state money.  Those Medicaid patients are still going to die.  But now they will die at the hospital at a reimbursement rate surely higher than hospice.