In closing days of Mississippi governor’s race, candidates clash over how to fund health care

Presley said an additional 230,000 people could receive Medicaid coverage if the program were expanded. Reeves used a higher estimate. And, as he does frequently, Reeves on Thursday referred to Medicaid as “welfare.” “Adding 300,000 able-bodied adults to the welfare rolls is not the right thing to do,” Reeves told reporters after his speech. The governor said he wants to focus on job creation and Democrats “want everybody to have government-run health care.” In his own remarks to reporters, Presley bristled at Reeves calling Medicaid “welfare.” “Tate Reeves insults people that roof a house for a living, that sack groceries for a living,” Presley said. “He wouldn’t take those jobs, and those people are out working. Yet, he calls it welfare for them to get health care. That’s how out of touch he is.”