Proponents say two new reports bolster the case for Medicaid expansion in Mississippi, including a poll that shows most people in Deep South states support it, even if their governors don’t.
But Republican Gov. Phil Bryant isn’t wavering in his opposition to Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and questions the poll’s veracity.
A poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, released Tuesday, says a majority of people — 62 percent — across five Southern states including Mississippi support Medicaid expansion as called for in the Affordable Care Act, despite opposition from Southern states’ governors to expansion.
In the poll, support for Medicaid expansion in Mississippi was lower than that in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina, pollsters said, but still at 59 percent.
“I hope the leaders of these states will hear the will of the people,” Ralph B. Everett, president of the Joint Center, said during a teleconference from Washington on Tuesday. The center is a Washington-based public policy organization that deals primarily with minority issues.
Bryant spokesman Mick Bullock said, “Last year, Mississippi spent more than $1.4 billion in state dollars on the existing Medicaid program — more than one quarter of our total state support budget. I’m sure the survey results would have been different had taxpayers been asked if they wanted to foot the bill for a drastic increase to this already enormous cost. Mississippi cannot afford it, and as Gov. Bryant has said many times, any expansion of Medicaid would result in tax increases for Mississippians or cuts to critical spending in areas like education, public safety and economic development.”
The poll showed a large difference in support between races — with African-American support at 85 percent to 53 percent for whites — economic classes and political parties. Only 38 percent of Republicans supported expansion, compared to 87 percent of Democrats.
Read more at the Jackson Clarion Ledger or the Hattiesburg American.
