The Mississippi Hospital Association seems to be bleeding membership at the moment.
Five hospitals from around the state, including the University of Mississippi Medical Center (the state’s largest system), have left the association since April 28, according to a recent report by Mississippi Today.
The list also includes Singing River, Gulfport’s Memorial Hospital, George County Regional in Lucedale and Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, according to the latest report.
None have cited specifics during their respective departures, but it all seems to stem from a quarter million-dollar donation made by MHA to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley.
Presley openly advocates for Medicaid expansion in the state, while incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves has consistently opposed the program that was enacted over a decade ago under the Affordable Care Act.
MHA is no stranger to political donations, but the board of directors probably should have thought that one through a little more diligently.
While more Mississippians and Republican legislators are warming to the idea of Medicaid expansion, support for Democratic candidates is still frowned upon in GOP circles.
No matter how moderate Presley might present himself, he will be touted by the right as a radical leftist who sides with, not only former President Barack Obama’s ACA law, but also the current Joe Biden administration.
Even if these hospitals secretly crave the promised millions they would collectively get from expansion, they are not going to openly support moving the governor’s seat to the left to achieve that end.
And why would they?
They know that Mississippi will expand Medicaid, no matter who is governor.
State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney predicted during a conversation he and I had in March that the federal government would eventually mandate expansion. Besides, Mississippi is one of only 10 states that has not come up with some derivative of expansion.
Mississippi is also probably more likely to see a non-mandated expansion under a Republican rather than a Democrat.
If Presley were elected in November, Republicans would do what they do best. They would oppose and block his agenda, especially if it called for solidifying Obama’s federal policies here.
Reeves has two options on expansion.
He can bet on re-election and count on signing a bill once he’s comfortably in his final term in office.
Or he could call a special session of the Legislature prior to the election and pull the rug out from under Presley’s preeminent campaign promise, that being rescuing the state’s crumbling health system.
The former comes with less political risk than the latter.
The legislative GOP knows expansion is inevitable and that it makes financial sense for the state and its health care system, at least at the moment.
When it came to the state flag issue in 2020, Reeves was non-supportive of change, but he understood the political tide was against him when he
