Small-hospital aid bills fire up Medicaid debate
JACKSON – Bills advancing in the Mississippi Legislature are re-ignitingdebate on whether the state should expand Medicaid as allowed under federal law….
…Yet this session the Mississippi House has passed legislation to create a $10 million pool of state funds designed to help struggling, rural hospitals and OK’d the Attala County Board of Supervisors issuing $5 million in bonds “for relief from debts and financial obligations” for the struggling Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital in Kosciusko. The bonds will be the responsibility of the taxpayers of Attala County….
…“I think expanding Medicaid is the wrong approach,” said House Public Health Chair Sam Mims, R-McComb. “We passed legislation that takes $10 million out of the general fund to improve the health of small, rural hospitals. That is the right approach.”
The legislation would make 46 hospitals across the state with 50 beds or less eligible for grants of up to $500,000 “to reinvent themselves” in a manner that could make them more viable. Mims said that could include a new program or building renovations, for instance.
MBJ
2/16/15
Magnolia Tribune
