Gov. Phil Bryant is still against Medicaid expansion, but says he's now willing to sit down with hospitals about other ways to cushion the blow from massive funding cuts when certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect.
In a statement issued jointly with the Mississippi Hospital Association, Bryant said he and hospitals "have come together in good faith to work out a possible solution to our funding issues."
Under the ACA, certain hospital funding mechanisms would sunset and be replaced by other revenue streams, primarily state Medicaid expansion. However, Bryant hates Obamacare so much he's refused to talk about covering an extra 300,000 low-income Mississippians with an expanded Medicaid plan.
Chris Anderson, CEO of Singing River Health Systems in Gulfport, said the Medicaid expansion question is "dead end" with Bryant so hospitals will have to work with the governor's administration to find alternate funding sources.
Anderson and other hospital execs are encouraged that Bryant now appears willing to come to the negotiating table.
Comments
aeroscout 11 years, 1 month ago
AP reported higher unemployment in Mississippi and 60 of our counties have unemployment rates above the state average. A poor economic outlook and continuing pressure on the state treasury will force the Governor to take the federal dollars for Medicaid expansion.