Rebekah Gee
| Rebekah Elizabeth Gee
(Former director of the Louisiana Health Department who expanded Medicaid enrollments) | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 4, 1975 Bountiful, Utah Resident of New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Political Party | Unaffiliated[1] |
Rebekah Elizabeth Gee (born December 4, 1975)[2] is a physician who is the former director of the Louisiana Department of Health. She assumed her position in 2016 in the first term of Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. Though Edwards maintains a nominally "pro-life" political position, Gee supports abortion.[3]Edwards also refused to halt abortion in Louisiana during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
At the start of his administration, Edwards ordered Gee to expand the state's Medicaid rolls. "Under her leadership, we brought health care to more than 460,000 hard-working adults who now have access to the medical services they need to live healthier lives, to fight chronic illness and, in some cases, survive." Edwards said.[4] U.S. Senator John Neely Kennedy, a Republican critic of the Edwards administration, questioned Gee's spending of $200 million on ineligible Medicaid recipients. Kennedy dubbed Gee "incompetent" and called for her resignation.[4]
In 2016, Benjamin Clapper, director of Louisiana Right-to-Life, questioned Gee's 2007 curriculum vitae while she was a clinical student at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. She delivered a speech in February 2003 at the National Abortion Rights Action League, which is not listed in her 2012 resume with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.[3] The Reverend Gene Mills, president of the conservative Louisiana Family Forum, said that he found it "ironic that the most pro-life state [Louisiana] in the nation has received, somewhat in a clandestine fashion, a very aggressive advocate for the abortion position. I find that not coincidental."[3] Mills also questioned the timing of Gee's resignation. A United States Supreme Court review of the Louisiana attempt to restrict most abortions will be argued beginning March 4, 2020. Gee left her post on January 13.[5]
Louisiana state Republican chairman Louis Gurvich hailed Gee's departure and urged Edwards to appoint "an official who actually shares his purported pro-life beliefs," which are "deeply held by the vast majority of Louisianans."[4]
Born in Utah, Gee also studied at Columbia University and the Columbia School of Public Health in New York City. She has lived in numerous location, including Columbus, Ohio, and Boston, Massachusetts.[6] She was the state Meidcaid director under Edwards's Republican predecessor, Bobby Jindal.
Gee has accepted another position but declined to disclose it.[4] Her successor in the post is Jimmy Guidry, M.D.
References
- ↑ Rebekah Gee, 12-1975, Zip 70115. Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ Rebekah Gee. Mylife.com. Retrieved on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mark Ballard (January 14, 2016). Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards names Dr. Rebekah E. Gee health chief -- causing unease for anti-abortion groups. The Baton Rouge Advocate. Retrieved on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Greg Hilburn. Louisiana Secretary of Health Rebekah Gee, who oversaw Medicaid expansion, resigns. Monroe News Star. Retrieved on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ Gene Mills, "Dr. Gee Resigns Before SCOTUS Hearing," Louisiana Family Forum, January 7, 2020.
- ↑ Rebekah Gee. Intelius.com. Retrieved on January 7, 2020.
