The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 9/23/7
IS PUBLIC HEALTH CARE — particularly the public health care provided children – a legitimate gubernatorial campaign issue in Mississippi?
Eaves provided details of his plan, Kid Care, to The Clarion-Ledger last week. Modeled after an Illinois program, the Eaves plan seeks to offer affordable coverage for children whose families earn too much to qualify for state and federal help but not enough to afford private insurance.
A spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour said the Eaves plan “doesn’t add up” and that it’s based on “a $100 million mistake” in calculating SCHIP monthly premiums. The Eaves plan would require the parents of recipient children to pay premiums and co-pays, which the Barbour camp says would require that “middle-class families get less but pay far more.”
