Dusting off the black welfare queens so beloved of Ronald Reagan

Haley Barbour, another of the GOP's sumo candidates, hates on Medicare but has no intention of opting out of it. 


Staying in lets him gin up resentment. Check the last paragraph of this snip from Politico:

Haley Barbour doesn’t have many nice things to say about Medicaid these days.
The potential 2012 president contender says he hates having to come to Washington to “kowtow and kiss the ring” whenever he wants to adjust eligibility or coverage.
He says he’s frustrated with “people [who] pull up at the pharmacy window in a BMW and say they can't afford their co-payment.” 

And, he says, “Forgive me if I think people who work two or three jobs to pay for health care for their families shouldn't be forced to pay for health care for people who can work, but choose not to.” 

What he doesn’t say: As the governor of Mississippi, Barbour runs one of the most expansiveMedicaid programs in the nation. 

Mississippi’s Medicaid program covers 22 percent of the state’s population, far above the 16 percent national average. That puts it among the top five states in terms of Medicaid’s reach into the population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. “I do think the one thing that stands out most in my mind, about our Medicaid program, is we cover such a large percentage of our population already,” says Therese Hanna, executive director of the Mississippi Health Policy Center.
And while Barbour opposed the Democrats’ health care reform law, Mississippi actively sought out new programs made available under it, applying for voluntary grant opportunities under the Affordable Care Act that have the potential to bring new money and coverage opportunities into the state. 

With the entitlement program playing such a crucial role in the state’s health delivery system—and, more practically, its providers’ salaries—it has traditionally offered a higher match rate of about 15 percent above the national average. 

“We have a very high match rate because we have such a large population, so it has a tremendous impact on how doctors are paid,” Hanna said. “From the provider standpoint, Medicaid is a very important payer. In some areas like the Mississippi Delta, where there’s a higher concentration of low income residents, those providers are very dependent.” 

The state has also disproportionately relied on federal funding to bolster the program, with approximately 83 percent of the state’s Medicaid funds coming from Washington. 

Even Barbour admits that the state has no intention or interest in leaving the federal entitlement program. 

“I can’t imagine Mississippi opting out,” he said at a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “We’re a poor state, and it’s an important program. We want to run it better for taxpayers and beneficiaries. … I am not an opt-out advocate and I’m just being forthright about that.” 

Instead, Barbour said he wants federal government ought to butt out of Mississippi’s Medicaid program, back off of the federal health reform law’s onerous bureaucracy, and leave the state to run the program as it pleases. 

Some say that message is a clear signal to Barbour’s potential 2012 base. 

“If you’re in a focus group with a bunch of white, male Southerners, Medicaid means poor, black people who are getting a free ride,” said Democratic analyst John Anzalone. “He is not speaking to all voters; he’s speaking to hard core Republicans. With eight or nine candidates [in a primary race], he’s speaking to that universe of people.”