Mississippi lawmakers should pass legislation to create sustainable funding for Medicaid, Gov. Barbour writes

Mississippi's Medicaid program "has a current $90 million shortfall, but what the program really needs is a fair, permanent, sustainable funding solution for the long term," Gov. Haley Barbour (R) writes in a Jackson Clarion-Ledger opinion piece.

According to Barbour, the state Senate recently approved a bill (SB 2013) -- developed by his administration, the Mississippi Hospital Association and the state Division of Medicaid --that "fills the immediate $90 million funding gap, provides stable funding for years to come and maintains the fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program in a way that is fair to hospitals and other providers, beneficiaries and taxpayers."

Barbour states, "It's not fair to put Medicaid providers and beneficiaries, or Mississippi taxpayers through the wringer again when a real solution is available now," adding, "Without SB 2013, state law forces the governor to make significant Medicaid budget cuts." He adds, "No Medicaid recipient will be taken off the rolls, but deep cuts will be made, affecting local jobs, local tax revenues and the quality of health care in Mississippi."

Barbour concludes, "Good government often demands tough decisions," and while "perfection in the legislative process is an impossibly high standard, SB 2013 is the right policy at the right time" (Barbour, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 6/22).