Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a bill Thursday that would help stabilize hospitals, citing alleged contradictions and the loom of a deficit among his concerns. 

“Depending on one’s perspective, there are either 25 million, 38.5 million, 40 million, or 50 million reasons to stand in the way of this bill becoming law,” Reeves said in his veto statement, ostensibly referencing the amount by which the Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s budget would increase.

The same day he vetoed the Medicaid bill, Reeves signed into law a tax bill containing typos that many lawmakers had inadvertently voted for. 

Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, author of the Medicaid tech bill, chose not to override the veto Friday – meaning the bill is likely dead. 

Blackwell declined to comment on the governor’s veto. 

A main thrust of the bill would be to lock in place supplemental payment programs that have been a lifeline for hospitals – but which are unreliable as they vary from year to year, according to Richard Roberson, CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association. 

“The language that was vetoed on the (supplemental payment) program was intended to basically allow hospitals budget stability and predictability so that they would not be worried about constant changes and fluctuations in how they get paid by Medicaid,” Roberson explained.

Each year, supplemental payment programs bring in around $1.5 billion federal dollars to Mississippi hospitals. 

Reeves said in his statement that locking the program in place is in contradiction with another of the bill’s mandates, which would change the program to allow out-of-state hospitals that border Mississippi to participate in the supplemental payment program. 

“Complying with both requirements is a legal impossibility and places the Division, like Odysseus, between Scylla and Charybdis.” 

But Roberson said the language of the bill would not prohibit the programs from growing – it would merely clarify what hospitals need to do to get paid. 

Reeves also said the bill “seeks to expand Medicaid.” The bill brings forth code sections related to eligibility requirements, but it doesn’t call for expanding the Medicaid population by increasing the income threshold, which is what is typically referred to as “Medicaid expansion.”

Reeves’ veto letter mentioned other proposed changes in the bill were beneficial to the state, while still others were problematic. His office did not respond to Mississippi Today by the time of publication on which changes he saw as beneficial and which were problematic. 

Another bill alive in the Legislature could be used as a vehicle to insert language from the tech bill. That bill, referred to as a “dummy bill” because it is currently void of details, has been referred to conference, where six lawmakers will hammer out the details. 

House Medicaid Chair Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, one of the conferees, said she is looking to the Senate for direction on future plans for the vetoed bill. 

“As this is a Senate bill, they will have first action on the next steps,” McGee said. “We are staying in communication with Chairman Blackwell and Senate leadership as to what that might look like.”

The post Governor vetoes bill hospital head said would help stabilize their budgets appeared first on Mississippi Today.