Mississippi Medical Association Has Not Always Been Out Front On States Health Care Issues

In 2002, during an 83-day special session, the longest in state history, members of the Mississippi Medical Association pushed to pass legislation that would give health care workers greater protection from lawsuits.

The Medical Association, the state's largest physician organization, had white-coated members at the Mississippi State Capitol actively engaged with legislators.

They won. A few years later, members in white were nowhere to be seen on Capitol Hill as groups from the American Cancer Society to the American Heart Association and many others urged lawmakers to raise the tax by 18 cents per pack of cigarettes. it was third in the country and well below the national average.

The groups argued that numerous studies have shown that raising tobacco taxes is good for the state's public health. A number of studies have confirmed that high tobacco taxes act as a deterrent to smoking, especially among adolescents.

Then the governors. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist, has blocked all efforts to raise the tobacco tax, as well as a bipartisan effort led by Republican Gov. Amy Tuck to cut the food tax to make up for lost revenue due to tobacco tax increases.

The medical association, which has been silent on the matter, has long supported Barbour.

During Barbour's second term, he finally agreed to raise the tobacco tax, but not reduce the food tax. But the head of the Mississippi State Medical Association was not present at the meeting of legislative leaders where the tobacco tax increase was announced.

When asked what he was doing at the meeting, he said his group had been working to raise the tobacco tax for years. As the old saying goes, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors, but members of the Medical Association were very cautious about the matter, as if trying to provide greater protection against litigation.

This year, the Medical Association, or at least its political action committee, endorsed Tate Reeves for governor. Reeves, like Barbour in the early 2000s, blocked the idea that many other health groups would improve health care in the state.

Reeves flatly rejected calls from many groups to expand Medicaid, so that the federal government pays at least 90% of health care costs, mostly for the working poor. Well, without saying anything about Medicaid expansion, even the aforementioned Mississippi State Medical Association has expressed support for Medicaid expansion.

2002 In January, the Medical Association wrote: “The fact is that there is a large gap among Mississippi workers who cannot afford private health insurance but whose income is too high to qualify for Mississippi's Medicaid program. When these people need medical care, hospitals must provide care regardless of their ability to pay. And because these people don't have insurance, the hospital doesn't reimburse them for the care they need. Even the most successful private enterprise cannot carry such a financial burden on hospitals."

Along the same lines, the Medical Association has offered several "considerations" to be adopted.

This includes "increasing income eligibility for Medicaid." Raising income levels is the definition of Medicaid expansion. And if that wasn't enough, the College of Physicians also suggested looking at "the Arkansas model for providing health care to working Mississippians through the purchase of private insurance for qualified recipients." The Arkansas model was adopted by the federal government, which pays most of the costs through Medicaid expansion.

Asked if Reeves' support for Medicaid expansion would end, Dr. James Risch, chairman of the American Medical Association's political action committee, responded by email: in our state, including improving access, affordability and statewide health care for all Mississippians."

If history is any indication, one thing is certain. When (and if) Medicaid is ever expanded, the medical profession will sit on its hands, just as they did when the cigarette tax was finally raised.

This analysis was conducted by Mississippi Today , a nonprofit news organization that covers state government, public policy, politics and culture. Bobby Harrison is a senior reporter for Mississippi Today's Capitol.

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