JACKSON, Mississippi - Mississippi's $90 million Medicaid deficit has been solved for another year without raising anybody's taxes. On Monday, Gov. Haley Barbour said the deficit, which was the subject of a $600,000 special session earlier this year, was resolved by discovering what essentially was an accounting error. The state since October 2003 has been paying to the federal government more than it should to provide health care for certain Medicaid recipients. The reimbursement from the federal government, which was agreed to Friday, provides to money to cover the deficit for the current year.For much of the summer, the Legislature and Barbour have been haggling over how to solve the deficit. The Legislature was in special session for several weeks this summer at an expense of about $610,000 without reaching an agreement. The Senate and Barbour supported taxing hospitals, while the House leaders supported increasing the cigarette tax, though they said they would agree to a combination of hospital and cigarette taxes. More... Nutty News - Cigarettes America Front Page News
Posts
