“Only positive Mississippi is spoken here,” former Gov. Kirk Fordice coined, was a theme for most politicians at the annual Hobnob event sponsored by the state’s Economic Council.
But two politicians, Lieutenant Delbert Horsman and Mike Cheney, Insurance Commissioner, made much of their speech at the Mississippi Economic Council’s annual Hobnob about the state’s troubled health care system and how many state hospitals Spent on the financial difficulties we face.
“Finding (business) without healthcare?” Cheney asked a crowd of about 1,000 mostly business leaders gathered at the Mississippi Coliseum to hear from the state’s political leaders. “I don’t think you do.”
Horseman said the Senate will consider medical issues during its next session. He also said legislative leaders should not fear efforts to improve health care through “that X-word.”
Horseman was probably referring to the expansion of Medicaid, which allows the state, primarily through federal funding, to provide medical care to about 200,000 poor Mississippians, primarily those in jobs that do not provide health insurance. It claims that expanding Medicaid as 38 other states have done will give it a financial advantage.
At a minimum, the lieutenant governor said states should extend a mother’s Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a year after giving birth.
“Why can’t we be pro-life and pro-child at the same time?” Horseman asked. “It makes no sense to me.”
While not outright endorsing expanding Medicaid, Hosemann said states should look for the most efficient and cheapest ways to improve access to healthcare within the state. Many argue that the best way forward is for the federal government to cover most of the costs and expand Medicaid.
Mr Cheney told reporters after his speech that he supported expanding Medicaid and believed Mr Horseman would too. But with both Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn opposing, it would be difficult to pass the expansion of Medicaid.
Reeves kept his speech positive, not mentioning health care at all.
After his speech, however, he repeated to reporters that he opposed the expansion of Medicaid.
“I will continue to oppose the expansion of Obamacare in Mississippi…” Reeves said. “I have no doubt seen certain healthcare organizations in our state and across the country struggling because of leadership decisions made in certain instances. did.”
Reeves said the solution to Mississippi’s dire health care problem is to do away with the state’s Certificate of Conformity (CON) requirement. The CON Act is intended to control healthcare costs by regulating the approval of major projects or expansions of healthcare facilities, reducing duplicate services, and limiting where new facilities can be built and operated. Mississippi and 34 other states have different CON laws.
Reeves says this is what kills competition, “competition tends to drive costs down.”
“For example, the University of Mississippi Medical Center does not have to adhere to CON rules, but all other facilities do,” Reeves says. “It means nothing.”
Opponents of the abolition of the CON process say they fear that it will lead to even fewer hospitals and other medical facilities in poor and underpopulated areas.
On other topics, Reeves said Mississippi has historically been in great financial shape and vowed to continue pushing to eliminate the state’s personal income tax.
“As long as I am governor, I have a promise to never stop fighting to completely eliminate the Mississippi income tax,” Reeves said. He said this would make the state more competitive in economic development with Texas, Florida and Tennessee, which have no personal income tax.
“Mississippi is climbing the national ladder in virtually every category,” Reeves said. He said the state has recorded $3.5 million in capital expenditures so far this year, and that “in 2022, we will have more capital expenditures than in the five years before I became governor.” said the state has made great strides in K-12 education, raising its tenure graduation rate from 72% to 88.5%, now above the national average of 86.5%.
Reeves vowed to promote “good jobs with above average wages,” quoting from his first state speech: ”
According to a recent US Census report, Mississippi has the lowest median household income in the nation at $46,511, compared to $67,521 nationally. Mississippi also has the highest poverty rate, with 18.8% of people living below the poverty level.
Cheney spent much of his speech criticizing both the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Mississippi’s Blue Cross & Blue Shield for their inability to resolve contract disputes affecting tens of thousands of Mississippians. The Blue Cross insured has been out of network with UMMC since April 1st.
“Both parties in this dispute are wrong,” Cheney said. “UMMC asks for too much and Blue Cross can offer more.”
Cheney later told reporters that he believed the dispute could be resolved in the next few days.
Cheney said UMMC “is using (patients) as pawns to grab money… On the other side, Blue Cross is also not right.”
The Republican Insurance Commissioner also told the audience that UMMC has written to Medicaid-managed care companies demanding higher reimbursement rates. health care for many Mississippians.
Magnolia, United and Molina are the three companies that manage care contracts with the Mississippi division of Medicaid. Under the agreement, the company will provide medical services to Medicaid patients at a flat rate paid by the state. Under that process, companies reimburse health care providers for services provided to Medicaid recipients.
In response to Cheney’s comments, Dr. Alan Jones, Vice President for Clinical Affairs, told Mississippi Today: Termination of current contract. These regular engagements are necessary to ensure that the contract meets the needs of patients who are members of health insurance.
He added: Our intention is that these standardized discussions will soon reach new agreements to continue our strong partnership with Magnolia and its healthcare relationships with its members. ”
Chaney also predicted that efforts to negotiate a lease agreement between Greenwood LeFlore Hospital and UMMC would be unsuccessful, and that financially troubled hospitals would be closed, adversely affecting health care across the delta.
Chaney said the state’s health care problems must be resolved for the state to thrive.
Also present were Auditor Shad White, Secretary of State Michael Watson, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, House Speaker Philip Gunn, Agriculture and Commerce Secretary Andy Gipson, and Treasury Secretary David McRae.
Gipson, wearing a cowboy hat, sang a snippet of “A Country Boy Can Survive” before praising the work of Mississippi farmers.
Watson, who was mentioned at one point as a gubernatorial candidate, though he might even possibly run against Reeves in the 2023 Republican primary, said he’d be happy to help me choose those people about next year’s election. I hope you will.
Without being specific, Watson did mention perhaps “tough times” ahead for the state in terms of health care.
As an auditor, White said he can “look inside the Mississippi government” and see what works and what doesn’t. He said the state workforce is the biggest problem he sees and offered four ideas for improving it.
“The first is the earned income tax deduction,” White said. “If you go from being unemployed to being employed, you get a tax cut … 29 other states are doing this … this is one of the best ways for people to work off the couch and off the sidelines. One… lots of money for the poor. It’s not going to stimulate our economy.”
White, along with 20 other states, will use federal temporary assistance for needy families, responsible for the massive fraud and waste cases uncovered by White’s office, to raise tax dollars. White said the deduction needs to be funded.
“Second, we have to deal with the brain drain,” said White. “From 2015 to 2019, we spent $1.5 billion to $2 billion on higher education, but only 50 percent of his graduates were able to stay in Mississippi. “
White said his office has a fellowship program that covers tuition on the condition that prospective auditors stay in his office for two years. He said this could be replicated in other occupations across the state.
“Third, fatherlessness,” said White. He said too many children grew up in broken homes and were ill-equipped to succeed when they grew up. I have a serious illness,” he said. The Junior ROTC program at Jackson Public Schools is one example of a program that solves this problem, with veterans mentoring young people, White said. He said the JPS program has a “100% graduation rate.”
Fourth, White said, “It’s the city of Jackson.”
“Jackson attracts the best talent in the state,” White said. “Thirty percent of his graduates come to work in Hines County.”
He said, “Jackson’s magnet is going to turn off if he doesn’t learn how to collect garbage, keep water clean, and not be the leader in murder per capita in this country.”
— Article credit to Geoff Pender and Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today —
