Greenwood Commonwealth: Playing Chicken With Medicaid

The Greenwood Commonwealth gets it right in their editorial Saturday on the state's looming Medicaid crisis. Haley Barbour has issues with raising the very low tobacco tax no matter what is at stake. As The Commonwealth points out let us not forget that Haley Barbour was a big time lobbyist for the tobacco industry. The Greenwood based paper also laid a large share of the blame at the feet of Phil Bryant, who has proven to be ineffectual at getting both sides to come to a solution.

One is the Haley Barbour point of view. Barbour wants to shore up a $90 million shortfall in the program that provides health care for the needy with a hospital tax, and, as of now, it’s his way or no way.

Another is the majority House Democratic view advocated by Speaker Billy McCoy. They want to raise Mississippi’s relatively low tax on cigarettes to fund at least part of the deficit, something Barbour, the former tobacco lobbyist, has resisted since he’s been in office.

There is more:

Not to be lost in all of this, too, is an apparent lack of leadership on the part of Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant to craft any sort of solution that both sides can accept.

Haley is using the poor folks of Mississippi as a political football. As the Commonwealth points out, if cuts are made Barbour will try and blame Speaker McCoy and House Democrats.