MCJ Editorial – What hospital tax?
What’s interesting about the state budget impasse is that the hospitals get $6 for every $1 they pay in to Medicaid, so why on earth would that be called a “tax?”
The formula was a plan the Mississippi Hospital Association asked for under the Fordice administration and now suddenly we’re going to be kicking old people out of nursing homes because of Haley Barbour. It’s just not so.
When hospitals ceased to pay this assessment, health care costs did not go down; hospital bills did not shrink. If the Hospital Association was unwilling to pass the savings on to the sick, they should also refuse to pass on the assessment.
We believe in less government and lower taxes, but we also believe hospitals should pay their fair share, whether you call it a tax or assessment. Bottom line is they get more money back than they pay in.
Lawmakers should stand up to the Hospital Association and pass a fair, permanent, sustainable Medicaid solution, or else the Legislature will be spending monies we don’t have.
Madison County Journal
6/25/9
Magnolia Tribune
