By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-12-27 11:36:20 | Word Count: 530
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour joined Senate Republicans on Thursday in blasting Democrats' plan to overhaul the nation's health care system "The longer it's out there, the worse it stinks," Barbour said of the Senate health care reform bill.
Democratic leaders in the Senate had hoped to bring the bill up for a vote by Christmas. But that may not be possible as they struggle to win more support for the measure amid Republican delay tactics.
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Any legislation passed by the Senate would have to be reconciled with a health care reform bill the House passed last month.
The Senate measure would spend $848 billion over 10 years and would insure 31 million people who don't have coverage now.
Both bills would expand Medicaid and create health insurance exchanges where coverage would be available for small businesses and workers not offered insurance through an employer. The bills would penalize individuals who don't buy insurance and employers who don't offer it. It also would bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Barbour and other governors have complained about the cost to their states of expanding the Medicaid program. Barbour has said it could cost Mississippi taxpayers $1.3 billion over the next 10 years. Medicaid is one of the most costly programs in state budgets, he said Thursday.
"States don't have this money. In fact, we're already cutting our budgets," Barbour said.
He said he may have to cut $715 million from next fiscal year's budget. Unlike federal lawmakers, he said, governors must balance their budgets.
Supporters of the health care reform bill say it would particularly benefit southern states, which tend to have a higher proportion of uninsured residents and a higher incidence of health ailments such as obesity.
"We expect the number of uninsured people to grow by 30 percent in 29 states," said Nancy-Anne DeParle, the White House adviser on health care reform. "Unfortunately, the southern states are the ones ... where it will grow by the (highest) percentage."
Families USA, a national health care advocacy group that supports health care reform, released a report Wednesday saying 359,000 Mississippians would gain health insurance coverage under the Senate bill. Without it, the report said, 93,000 residents could lose coverage by 2019 and the number of uninsured state residents could increase from about 532,000 to about 625,000.
"The consequences of inaction are very severe for people in Mississippi and across the country," Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said in a statement. "If the Senate fails to act, Americans will continue to struggle and a growing number of them will face the devastating effects of going without coverage."
Republicans say the health care reform bill would cost too much, expand the government's role in health care and increase premiums for seniors enrolled in Medicare.
