JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – With less than three weeks to go before the 2023 primary elections, one issue on many voter’s minds is healthcare.
Between financially struggling hospitals, nationally low rankings in OBGYN car and overall healthcare access, healthcare has quickly become the headlining issue for voters.
If re-elected, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann wants to re-evaluate how healthcare is funded and administered throughout the state in hearings this fall.
Hosemann said, “There’ll be others involved in that. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, people that are delivering health care. Pharmacists need to be sitting at the table, so we’re going to go back, and look at what the standard of care is. And then, what is the cost to get us there?”
One of his Republican opponents in the lt. governor’s race, State Senator Chris McDaniel, believes fixing Mississippi’s healthcare goes hand in hand with healthier living.
“We have to also understand that sometimes governments aren’t well-positioned to to fight against human nature. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do something. I’m just saying that part of this is about personal responsibility. And making wise decisions as we age,” said McDaniel.
Tiffany Longino is the only Republican lt. governor candidate who has Medicaid expansion at the center of hear healthcare agenda, alongside education, if elected.
“We have an issue. We have a plague here. You need to come off that high horse and approve this expansion. We’re ranked in the top 10 for HIV, for STDs, because we have taken that out of school and we are not educating our students,” she said.
Hosemann and McDaniel believe Medicaid expansion is not the total answer for struggling hospitals.
“That’s not the answer. The answer is to start with what we need, and fund to that,” said Hosemann.
“There are other reforms that approached in the free market that may help get us there through competition, such as the elimination of the certificate of need laws we presently have,” said McDaniel.
Primary elections will take place on August 8.