Medicaid’s next miracle? Stimulus could provide state up to $790 million provide $520-$72 million

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 3/1/9

While Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and Democratic House Speaker Billy McCoy have sparred philosophically over accepting portions of the $787 billion federal stimulus package for unemployment benefits, there is no disagreement among state Democrats and Republicans over accepting stimulus funds to bail out the state’s struggling Medicaid program.

“We’ve been so busy trying to get our arms around the entirety of the stimulus plan that we haven’t talked specifically about Medicaid much this week and aren’t sure what road we’ll take,” said McCoy, D-Rienzi. “Certainly it could change the overall Medicaid debate in several areas. We just don’t know yet.”

But like much of the stimulus package, the provisions related to Medicaid are so complex that state leaders have yet to agree on just how much funding Mississippi will receive under the plan.