DJ – The clients are missing in the Medicaid impasse

The clients are missing in the Medicaid impasse

Mississippi’s standoff between proponents and opponents of Medicaid expansion expands in dramatic dimensions almost daily, with Gov. Phil Bryant saying he will run the agency by executive order rather than give in to supporters of expanding the program under new eligibility limits in the Affordable Care Act, which takes effect Oct. 1.

Bryant’s position generally reflects his Republican Party’s opposition to even a legislative debate about adding as many as 300,000 Mississippians. Legislative Democrats, on the other side, generally support expansion.

So far, little has been said about the consequences for the program’s 640,000 current clients.

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/12/13