With forecasts of a national recession and slow Mississippi revenue growth, legislators struggled this year to find the money necessary for state government, said state Rep. Linda Whittington.
Whittington, a resident of Schlater and executive director of Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore Inc., spoke to the Greenwood Business and Professional Women’s Club on Tuesday.
“We have often faced this difficulty in preparing a budget for the next fiscal year,” she said. “Many see this task as the most important function of the Legislature — to set the budget.”
While policy issues such as immigration, energy and education also are important, state agencies and departments wouldn’t be able to do their jobs without proper funds, Whittington said.
She said putting together a budget for Medicaid made their job difficult again this year.
Medicaid is the health insurance program for a large portion of the population who are poor, aged and disabled. It has long been a funding issue for Mississippi because there is no steady stream to fully fund it.
“I don’t think you will ever see the Legislature abdicate what it sees as a responsibility to help these citizens have a good quality of life, particularly with health care,” Whittington said.
Medicaid affects about one-fourth of all Mississippians, she said, and they come in all ages. “We are talking about 800,000 residents of this state — some of your family members and your friends,” she said.
“Oftentimes, these citizens must choose between food and prescription drugs,” she said. “Some are that needy.
“Some have no transportation. Some are in wheelchairs,” she said. “Many of them are in nursing homes and some are bedridden.
“So you have a group of people who in many cases simply cannot take care of themselves,” Whittington said.
The state has faced problems finding money for Medicaid before, she said.
“The House of Representatives has for several years favored an increase in the tax on cigarettes as a way of providing a revenue stream for Medicaid,” she said. “This year we added alcohol to the mix.”
However, Gov. Haley Barbour is pushing for a hospital tax to help fund Medicaid. He is in a tug of war with the House of Representatives, which is pushing an increase in tobacco tax or a combination tobacco tax and hospital tax as a means to support the program.
Barbour has threatened to make cuts in the Medicaid program beginning Aug. 6 if a resolution is not reached during a special session that will reconvene on Aug. 4.
Whittington said the public must understand how important Medicaid is for hospitals. “Many say Medicaid is the fuel that keeps our hospital engines running,” she said.
Mississippi, the nation’s poorest state, also gets the most matching dollars from the federal government for the program, Whittington said.
Medicaid “helps to provide a quality of life to many citizens who would not otherwise have it, and it keeps open the doors to many of our hospitals,” she said.
Whittington fears that if the governor follows through with his plan to cut Medicaid, there will be a loss in services and jobs at hospitals in both Greenwood and Greenville.
Whittington hopes that if a compromise is not reached in August that the governor will let it ride until January.
She said she understands the importance of finding a steady stream to fund Medicaid each year. However, she would like to see that issue handled during a regular session and not a special session that is costing taxpayers money that could be better used to fund things such as education.
Whittington also touched on other issues from the session.
She said the session ended with the “rainy day fund” full at $378 million.
The state used $26 million from the tobacco trust fund to help balance the 2009 budget, she said.
“Our Katrina money has slowed to a trickle, but we did manage to spend $30 million of that funding to help out several different state agency budgets,” Whittington said.
Whittington, who serves on the state corrections committee, said four bills were passed that should have a positive effect on the future of the corrections budget, which has tripled in just a decade.
“The main one is a bill that would allow certain non-violent inmates to be eligible for parole, instead of being forced to serve 85 percent of their sentence, which is current law,” she said.
“Corrections officials believe this could save us millions on our prison budget each year,” Whittington said.
Another bill passed would allow terminally ill prisoners to get early release, and another makes more inmates eligible for house arrest, she said.
Public school teachers did not receive an across-the-board pay raise. Whittington said the House passed a 3 percent increase early in the session and promoted it most of the session, but it did not survive.
Whittington also touched on the improved funding source for the state trauma care system. The funding bill will raise about $14 million, or $8 million more than had been appropriated in the past, she said.
Funding for this program will come from two sources.
“The first is a ‘play or pay’ source requiring all hospitals except Level 4 facilities to pay if they do not take part in the state system,” she said.
The second would increase court costs or increases in fines for various traffic citations.
