Whether Tate Reeves privately acknowledged almost a decade ago that Medicaid expansion would be beneficial to Mississippi is irrelevant.
It’s no secret that the governor has understood the benefits for some time.
But he has made the deliberate decision that these don’t matter. What’s most important to him is staying in office. Years ago he calculated his odds and decided that opposing Medicaid expansion — no matter what other states did, no matter what the impact on Mississippi’s hospitals might be, no matter what he knew the math to be — would further his personal political ambitions. So far, it’s proven to be the winning bet.
In this heavily Republican state, it’s not hard to get people to vote against their own interests as long as you couch it as something that Democrats want.
Thus, there’s no reason to expect that the sudden interjection of Dr. Dan Jones into the debate will do much to persuade the Republican majorities in the Legislature to expand Medicaid. Just days before he spoke out, the GOP-controlled committees let die without a single hearing 15 bills filed by Democrats that would make the working poor eligible for the government health insurance program.
On Thursday, Jones, the former head of the University of Mississippi Medical Center and former Ole Miss chancellor, was surrounded by Democrats when he recounted a conversation he claimed to have had in either 2013 or 2014 with Reeves about Medicaid expansion.
The visuals, which included Greenwood Sen. David Jordan at Jones’ side, gave the press conference the appearance of a political stunt. Nor was Jones particularly persuasive in explaining why he kept this supposed bombshell to himself until now.
Mississippi has been debating Medicaid expansion since it first became an option with the passage in 2010 of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Reeves has been on the record the whole time as one of the main obstacles to Mississippi joining with the vast majority of states that have accepted the federal government’s generous offer to pay for most of the cost of expansion.
It was a campaign issue for Reeves in the GOP primary in 2019, and later in the general election contest against Democrat Jim Hood. Although Jones at the time was still on the state payroll as an employee of UMMC, he was no longer in a role that could have jeopardized anyone’s funding if he had exposed Reeves as a cynical politician who privately knows what’s right but publicly does the opposite.
The worst repercussions might have pushed Jones into retirement two years earlier than he had planned. Even if that were the outcome, he could have certainly found work as a private physician in this medically underserved state.
So, if Reeves did, in fact, tell the then-chancellor at Ole Miss that he recognized the benefits of Medicaid expansion but wouldn’t support it because “it’s not in my personal political interest,” then Jones deserves some criticism for holding his tongue for this long.
Reeves, for his part, didn’t handle the accusation well. The Donald Trump disciple took to Twitter to deny the conversation ever happened and called out the “liberal media” for being a vehicle for spreading Democratic lies about him. Reeves’ “attack the messenger” technique is becoming tiresome and, it is hoped, not just to folks who earn a living as journalists.
Worse, rather than referring to Jones by name, the governor called him “this dude” and threw in a gratuitous dig about Jones getting “fired by Ole Miss.”
The tweet underscores what is most unappealing about Reeves, other than some of his misguided policies.
He’s rude and mean-spirited.
Jones, it is true, was let go by the College Board after serving six years as the Ole Miss chancellor. It was a decision, however, that was roundly criticized, including by Jones’ predecessor, Robert Khayat, several prominent alumni, such as Jim Barksdale and John Grisham, and a host of faculty, staff and students. Jones lost that job not because of performance but most likely because he ruffled influential conservative alumni of the university who didn’t like his efforts to further distance Ole Miss from its Old South traditions. These are the same kind of traditions, by the way, that Reeves will defend until it’s no longer in his “personal political interest” to do so, such as his grudging acquiescence a few years ago to changing the racially charged state flag.
The mark of a true statesman is to be able to treat your opponents with respect. Reeves, however, is of the school that believes respect is only accorded to those who kiss your ring or kick in big-time to your campaign kitty.
That is an approach that has worked for him in five straight elections. Don’t expect him to change in his bid for No. 6.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
