Gov. Tate Reeves’ Medicaid plan will help campaign donors but not uninsured Mississippians

Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is still refusing to opt in to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which would provide health insurance to an estimated 230,000 uninsured adults in the state. Instead, on Sept. 21, Reeves announced plans to boost Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals by hundreds of millions of dollars, directly benefiting his own donors. The first-term governor is running for reelection and will face Democratic state Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley in the Nov. 7 election. Several of the hospitals that will benefit most from this plan and their top executives have contributed to Reeves’ campaigns.