Jackson Free Press

What a new report says is that Mississippians would benefit greatly from the expansion of Medicaid.

What the report really means is that Mississippians—and the rest of the country—are suffering great harm by the state's refusal to expand Medicaid.

In "Missed Opportunities: The Consequences of State Decisions Not to Expand Medicaid," researchers from the White House Council of Economic Advisers examined 22 states that have declined to loosen Medicaid eligibility requirements to insure more citizens.

"These 22 States have seen sharply slower progress in reducing the number of uninsured over the last year and a half, and researchers at the Urban Institute estimate that, if these States do not change course, 4.3 million of their citizens will be deprived of health insurance coverage in 2016," the report's authors write.