Judge to hear legal arguments of Obama health plan

The Obama administration is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by 20 states that claims the president's health care plan is unconstitutional.

Federal attorneys will tell a judge Tuesday that the lawsuit shouldn't go to trial because the states don't have standing to sue. They will argue in a Pensacola courtroom that the section of the overhaul requiring health insurance doesn't take affect until 2015 and it would be up to an individual taxpayer to challenge the law then.

The states argue they can sue because new law will require them to spend more money on Medicaid.

Mississippi Medicaid Director: Federal Health Care Will Cost State Millions

Dr. Robert L. Robinson

Expanded Federal Poverty Limit Would Add 400,000 More To Rolls

Basic requirements of federal health care reform could push as many as 400,000 new Mississippians onto Medicaid rolls in 2014 at an annual average cost of more than between $225 to $250 million to state taxpayers, Division of Medicaid officials stated today in a joint meeting of the state Senate and House public health committees. In 2020, if States pick up the full cost of the newly enrolled, the cost to Mississippi taxpayers will be $438 million per year.

The new law grants new categories of coverage to families and childless adults between 100 percent and 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Limit, Richard Roberson, Special Assistant to the Executive Director, told legislators. Compared to other states, Mississippi has one of the largest percentages of its population within these limits.

“We struggle to pay for the program that we have now, said Medicaid Executive Director Dr. Robert L. Robinson. “With federal health care reform we will soon need more than $1 billion from Mississippi taxpayers annually to pay for this program. In 2014, our Medicaid program will cover approximately one out of three Mississippians and consume 20 to 25 percent of our state budget.”

The law will also impact Mississippi hospitals by reducing the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program which provides supplemental payments to hospitals that serve a high volume of uninsured patients. Last year, Mississippi paid more than $200 million to Mississippi hospitals through its DSH program.

Related Posts: Judge to hear legal arguments of Obama health plan

Flora man dies after vehicle hits tree

Blake Walley

Louisiana State Police say a Mississippi man died in a one-vehicle crash on Interstate 12 just west of Slidell.

Troopers say 26-year-old Daniel B. Walley of Flora was eastbound Sunday when he ran of the road and hit a tree.

Trooper Nick Manale said Walley was taken to the Ochsner Medical Center in Slidell where he was later pronounced dead.

Mosquito-Eating Fish From Mississippi To Reach Haiti Today

Operating Blessing International, a humanitarian organization, is putting to use a brilliant natural method to cut down the excessive mosquito breeding in the earthquake struck Haiti. Around 2000 tiny mosquito-eating fishes named Gambusia is being been transported from a north Mississippi fish hatchery to Haiti with a hope to reduce mosquito breeding. The fishes will play a major role in Operation Blessing International relief project and are scheduled to reach Haiti today.

The Operation Blessing International along with the Haiti Department of Agriculture have planned to put the fishes into mosquito-infested water around the country. Gambusia, is known of having the capacity of eating in mosquito eggs and larvae many more times than its body weight. They have acted as natural mosquito “deterrents” in many other countries and this is not for the first time that the Operation Blessing International is using Gambusia to fight excessive mosquito breeding. The OBI officials used the minnows for the same purpose in New Orleans after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The minnows were moved from Tchula’s Thompson Fish Hatchery to the Yazoo County airport near Yazoo City. From there the fishes were scheduled to be loaded into an Operation Blessing International plane and transported to Florida and then to Haiti on Saturday. The Operation Blessing International is hopeful that its present Haiti project will help the situation in Haiti where malaria still continues to reign as an epidemic. The organization has come forward with this long-term project to combat the problem. The unleashing of the mosquitoes is a part of the organization’s “Teach A Nation To Fish” project under which it also plans to run a micro-enterprise tilapia farming project.

Yazoo County Sheriff's Son Faces Pot Charge

Sheriff Vaughan Turns Case Over To MBN

The son of Yazoo County Sheriff Tommy Vaughan is facing charges after an undercover drug sting, county officials said.

Investigators with the Sheriff's Department recorded a marijuana buy on videotape as part of the undercover operation, District Attorney Steven Waldrop said. On Friday, Thomas E. Vaughan Jr., 26, was arrested and charged with the sale of marijuana, Waldrop said.

When Sheriff Vaughan was informed that his son had been arrested, he immediately ordered that the case be turned over to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Waldrop said.

"He then called me and said that no one is above the law and he wanted his son and this case treated like any other case," Waldrop said. "He is devastated and going through a rough time, but he was resolute that his son gets no special treatment."

The younger Vaughan was transported to the Madison County Detention Center.

WAPT

Governor's Commission On Consolidation Muddles Out a Non-solution

As long as consolidation is voluntary we'll have 152 districts. What a waste of time this whole excercise was!

Commission nixes school consolidations

A commission reviewing Mississippi’s public school structure has proposed steps to smooth the way for school districts to consolidate, but doesn’t mandate any mergers.

The Governor’s Office released the report Friday.

Gov. Haley Barbour formed the Commission on Mississippi Educational Structure — a group of educators, business leaders and legislators — late last year after he proposed reducing the state’s 152 school districts by one-third as a way to save money.

As the commission did its work, talk of consolidation lost steam. Consultants hired by the commission on Barbour’s advice recommended the consolidation of about 20 districts instead of the 50 proposed by the governor.

The commission recommended that consolidation continue to be voluntary with the state providing some incentives to entice mergers.

The final report recommends that school districts within a county merge some administrative functions, such as the purchase of supplies. The commission also said the Legislature should provide some financial incentives to districts to consolidate.

The panel, headed by Tupelo banker Aubrey Patterson, said school districts that do consolidate should not be penalized for low achievement scores, and should be exempt from such standards for a while. The state Department of Education also would provide technical assistance to any newly consolidated districts.

“I believe these recommendations provide the Legislature with some excellent options for consideration,” Patterson said in a statement. “The commission examined the issue from every angle and developed recommendations that address the consolidation of both school districts and services.”

The panel also recommended that the state Board of Education be given authority to dissolve districts that are placed in conservatorship or the recovery programs and reconstitute them as a new district with new district lines and new leaders.

“These commonsense solutions are a good first step toward improving the educational and financial conditions of Mississippi schools,” Barbour said in a statement. “Through innovate approaches to education, we can improve the efficiency of our districts and quality of opportunities for Mississippi children.”

MBJ