More on Barbour's bait-and-switch

In an earlier post, I accused Gov. Barbour's plan to fund Medicaid of using "bait-and-switch accounting".

It seems that more than a few legislators believe the same thing.

From a Jackson Free Press article:

“Put another way, the governor takes money from hospitals and gives it back to them, and in doing so creates the illusion that there is a deficit in the UPL program.”

[Sen. David] Baria said that Barbour thinks the resulting deficit, “however illusory,” empowers him to assess hospitals to make up the difference.

Rep. Cecil Brown puts it into much simpler terms that we can all understand:

Rep. Brown, an accountant, said he would never advise a personal household to finagle its budget in so complicated a manner.

“There are too big problems with this. It’s still a $90 million tax on hospitals, no matter how it’s twisted,” Brown said.

“Why would you go through this much trouble when all you have to do is increase revenue with a popular tax?”

The entire JFP article is worth a read, even if it does spend a bit of time rehashing Barbour's old lobbyist ties. Those ties are still relevant, however, in answering Brown's rhetorical question above.