Medicaid expansion seems a reasonable proposal
We hope more open minds will allow a full debate on Medicaid expansion in the 2014 legislative session, which begins in little more than a month.
Medicaid doesn’t discover newly poor people under the plan; it would offer coverage to mostly working Mississippians who cannot afford health insurance but who need it, as does everyone else.
Proponents of Medicaid expansion have pointed out that according to Bryant’s Medicaid officials the expansion would cost the state $7 million the first year for $70 million in federal funds and over a seven-year period will cost the state a cumulative $450 million while receiving $8.6 billion in federal funds, Capitol Bureau Chief Bobby Harrison reported last week. That appears to be a good deal and ought to be considered.
DJ Editorial Board
12/2/13
