The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 9/10/8
For the fourth consecutive year, the Mississippi Legislature has authorized a larger, more expensive Medicaid program than lawmakers have appropriated funds to fully finance.
Most lawmakers will dive headfirst in front of a television camera to talk about “fully funding” education, but when one mentions “fully funding” public health care, the only sound one hears is the chirping of crickets.
In 2005, lawmakers began meeting the state’s growing Medicaid deficits with one-time money. They used money from the supposedly “inviolate” Health Care Trust Fund (the formal name of the fund that was supposed to manage the state’s settlement with Big Tobacco).
They used part of the federal funds provided for relief from Hurricane Katrina to meet Medicaid expenses. And they used deficit appropriations – spending this year’s money for last year’s expenses.
Magnolia Tribune
