With his fellow Republican leaders set against him and pushing Medicaid expansion through the Legislature, Gov. Tate Reeves had a statewide platform last week with his State of the State address to warn Mississippians of the perils of this policy.
But he said nothing. Zilch.
He didn’t even mention the state’s dire, long-running health care problems that rival third-world areas.
Instead, he’s tweeted about it.
Actually, he mainly just retweeted Donald Trump’s erudite, well-thought argument against Medicaid expansion: “Obamacare Sucks!!!”
But later last week, as GOP-led expansion legislation continued moving through the Legislature, Reeves elaborated on his well-reasoned, detailed argument against the policy:
“Count me amongst those ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ who think Government should not run health care,” Reeves tweeted.
So, for the one issue before Reeves that is, literally, life-or-death for many of his fellow Mississippians, he offers no policy. Only politics. Obamacare sucks.
Reeves, in his eight years as lieutenant governor and nearly a full first term as governor, never really had any health care initiatives — sort of like Trump when he was president. It just wasn’t on his radar, even as Mississippians and hospitals struggled.
Reeves has never been all that big on proposing any major policies — just killing others’ proposals or glomming onto them if they look like a winning ticket politically. By his own admission, he’s never shy about saying, “No.”
Reeves has made clear he believes taking more federal Medicaid tax dollars to provide health care for poor working Mississippians sucks. It’s dirty, corrosive “welfare” money that Mississippi just doesn’t need. Mississippians, he has opined, just need to get better jobs where they have insurance. Quit being poor. Quit being sick.
Yet, when his reelection campaign was bailing water last year from his lack of any plan to address the health care crisis threatening to shutter many hospitals, Reeves hastily came up with one: He expanded Medicaid payments to hospitals.
That’s right, he opted to take more of that dirty Medicaid “welfare” federal tax money as a stopgap in his only major health care policy to date.
Not only that, the avowed anti-tax Reeves levied a tax on hospitals to cover the state match to draw down the welfare — er — Medicaid money.
If you’re playing along at home, it’s hard to scan, but this appears to be his overall tack: Federal dollars are bad, if they go to help poor, struggling Mississippians (of which there are many, and, just doing some napkin math, many vote Republican). But federal dollars are good if they go to businesses or institutions or, really, anything besides said poor folk.
READ MORE: ‘Moral imperative’: House overwhelmingly passes Mississippi Medicaid expansion
Reeves recently boasted at a press conference of the state receiving more than $1 billion in federal money to expand internet service, that he wanted Mississippi to receive not only its fair share of the federal largesse, but “more than our fair share.”
But Mississippi — perennially at or near the top of the list of most federally dependent states — accepting federal money to address our having at or near the highest rates of infant mortality, maternal mortality, early mortality in general, amputations from diabetes, lack of doctors … well, that’s just wrong.
Republicans House Speaker Jason White and Medicaid Chairwoman Missy McGee last week after shepherding an expansion bill through the House struck a chord.
“‘No’ is not a policy that has helped or will help low-income, working Mississippians,” McGee said.
White last week noted that Medicaid expansion is not a perfect solution, but it’s the only realistic one presently available to address the state’s health care crisis.
“It’s like when momma only put out turnip greens and cornbread for supper,” White said. “That was it. There wasn’t anything else coming out. You could eat it or not.
“It’s what’s for supper.”
If you’re the governor of a state, and your state has the highest mortality rates, the lowest life expectancy — again, third-world health statistics — well, it’s probably time to start engaging with your fellow state leaders on solutions, start talking with the citizenry about it.
It’s probably time to propose some policies, especially if you don’t like the ones they’re coming up with.
“Obamacare sucks!!!” is not a real policy.
“No” is not a real policy.
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