Video: Medicaid Expansion: Could It Help Create Jobs?

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NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Medicaid expansion supporters believe the Medicaid Expansion bill that died in the House and Senate would have helped 300,000 Mississippians get the care they need, but will it also create jobs?

Noxubee County Hospital administrator Danny McKay believes expanding Medicaid may not be effective in his area, but does think it could help job creation elsewhere.

“As far as Noxubee County, I would say at first guess not many jobs would be created. We comprise most of the health care delivery system here and I don’t think it would be the situation with us.In larger scales and other communities, I can certainly see how it would create more jobs because if you have more people seeking healthcare, it’ll take more people to take care of them,” says McKay.

Republican State Representative Gary Chism also agrees, but says, it comes at a price.

“If you raise taxes you can do this. But we Republicans are not gonna raise taxes to provide, even though it does provide more jobs if we fully implement it. But we’re not raising taxes to accomplish this,”says Representative Chism.

Chrism says not only would it raise taxes, but will result in forced cuts to services like Public Safety and Education.

“I mean if we can cut the other agencies a billion dollars, there probably wouldn’t be anything wrong with it, but i’m not sure we wanna layoff teachers to provide services for another 300,000 people that revenue is not up to where we can pay our own obligations as it is. All this talk about expansion is not gonna go anywhere,” says Representative Chism.

The bill is now dead in the house and senate. Governor Bryant could call a special session, but he’s already made it clear, he’s against Medicaid Expansion.

Categories: Local News

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