If things are so peachy keen, then why does Mississippi have some of the worst health indicators in the country? The situation for children is particularly appalling: The state ranks #1 in the country for low birth weight babies, and pre-term labor. And #2 for infant mortality. Adults rates for sexually transmitted diseases are among the highest in the country. And things have not much improved over the last ten years.The governor questioned the need for such a huge government effort. He also suggested in the interview that the plight of Mississippi’s uninsured residents is exaggerated by advocates.
“There’s nobody in Mississippi who does not have access to health care,’’ Barbour said. “One of the great problems in the conversation is the misimpression that if you don’t have insurance, you don’t get health care.’’
Hospitals and doctors in the state routinely provide charitable care, he said. Residents also can get care from clinics such as the one by the side of Route 49 in Yazoo City, as well as larger and better-equipped community clinics scattered around the state. And Barbour pointed to his efforts in the Mississippi Legislature, unsuccessful so far, to win passage of a voluntary insurance exchange where small businesses and individuals could shop for insurance at discount rates.
Barbour backs a plan passed by the Republican-controlled US House on Friday to transform Medicaid into a block-grant program, giving states broad leeway to manage care for the poor within their own borders.
So my guess is that while the claim is that people have access to health care, they don't actually get it. My play on words.
No comments:
Post a Comment