The evidence continues to grow about Mississippi’s budget: Spending will have to be cut because tax revenues are lower than expected.
At a public hearing last week conducted by the Legislative Black Caucus, state health officer Dr. Mary Currier said budget concerns have forced the Department of Health to lay off people, and she predicted there will be more jobs eliminated when the new fiscal year starts July 1.
The Department of Health will get $4 million less from the state in the next budget year — a cut of 11 percent. Currier also said that Medicaid payments to the department are down by one-third. However, that’s not all bad: Since Medicaid is paying private health care providers more than it used to, some patients who used to go to public health clinics have switched to private care.
Nevertheless, the Department of Health has closed nine clinics and reduced the hours of service at 41 of its 87 remaining clinics. This runs the risk of denying medical care to people who arguably need it the most.
Compounding the problem will be the potential effect of tax cuts passed into law this year.
Republicans who pushed those tax cuts through will say that they’ll boost the economy and wind up producing more revenue for the state than the tax reductions will cost. Maybe, but maybe not. Other states that experimented with this in recent years have gotten badly burned.
