Jackson Free Press

Despite Gov. Phil Bryant's stubborn and vocal opposition to the plan, the question of Medicaid expansion seemed headed for a few rounds of spirited debate in the Mississippi Legislature.

Although Bryant approves or vetoes the state budget, budget-making authority ultimately rests with the Legislature and, more specifically, with House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves.

In Mississippi, the nation's poorest state, where hospital and ancillary health-care services are the bread-and-butter of many communities, one would expect that the lawmakers who represent these woe begotten parts of the state to have a litany of questions about the pros and cons of Medicaid expansion.

One report, which the Institutions of Higher Learning released in October, concludes that adopting the Medicaid expansion would create more than 9,100 jobs by 2020. One would think that lawmakers would be more than willing to have a public conversation about whether the $109.4 million price tag IHL puts on Medicaid expansion is worth it.

Another study, widely cited by Bryant and other critics, puts the price tag to Mississippi taxpayers at around $1.6 billion through 2020 when the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented.

Lawmakers are in the unenviable position of determining if Mississippi can afford to spend the money to cover another 300,000 people through Medicaid or whether Mississippi, the nation's unhealthiest state by most indicators, can afford not to make the investment.

But the saga over Medicaid expansion in Mississippi has taken an unexpected, if not bizarre turn. For the second time, Democrats have blocked passage of the House's Medicaid reauthorization bill because, unlike the Senate version, the House bill lacked the code sections to let a debate over Medicaid expansion take place in the chamber.

Now, if one of the bills is not revived before the session ends, the Medicaid program will not be funded when the new fiscal year begins July 1. That the Legislature's Republican leadership does not seem inclined to so much as let a debate on Medicaid expansion take place is puzzling.

So far this year, lawmakers have debated proposals to establish charter schools, arm public schoolteachers, ignore federal law and regulate abortion (again). Any other time, lawmakers are falling all over themselves to roll out business-friendly proposals that would create jobs in the state. None of these proposals come close to offering the economic benefits that would come with health-care boom that Medicaid expansion could fuel.

As Rep. Bryant Clark pointed out last week, the sky is not falling just because the House is at a standstill over Medicaid. Plenty of opportunities exist to not reauthorize Medicaid before the session ends but also to engage in a constructive debate over whether expanding Medicaid would benefit the people of Mississippi.

We encourage our lawmakers to commence that debate as soon as possible.