“Tate must be in trouble,” said one. “Why else would he flip-flop on hospital funding?”

“It was the most egregious political act I’ve ever seen,” said another.

“I predict a runoff,” said a third, suggesting Reeves’ race with Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley has tightened considerably.

“What changed? Why is this idea – of increasing hospital ‘bed taxes’ in order to draw down more federal Medicaid dollars – suddenly so brilliant, less than seven weeks from Election Day?” asked Greenwood Commonwealth Editor and Publisher Tim Kalich.

“Clearly politics is at play,” he concluded.

Over a year ago a group of hospital administrators met with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn to pitch a way to increase funding for our struggling hospitals. Their proposal was based on a successful move by Louisiana. They estimated their proposal would net an additional $700 million a year in Medicaid payments after hospitals paid a higher bed tax to provide matching funds.

Legislative leaders liked the concept and asked Reeves’ Division of Medicaid to review it. An initial review said the plan would only yield about $400 million. Later, the Division of Medicaid told Hosemann the plan would only yield $40 million. So, the proposal was dropped.

Now, Reeves has proposed the same plan and the Division of Medicaid says yes it will provide about $700 million.

Asked about the flip-flop, Division of Medicaid Director Drew Snyder provided a most telling answer. “I think the difference is we got the right people in the room.”

“That answer alone should make one suspicious,” wrote Kalich. Some suggested “the right people” must include several who told the Governor he needed to do something about hospitals to thwart Presley’s momentum on the issue.

Sadly, the one-year delay has cost some hospitals dearly. Greenwood Leflore Hospital has laid off almost half of its employees and is drawing on local tax dollars to barely keep the doors open. Other hospitals merged or eliminated services.

The reality is this option to increase Medicaid funding has been available for at least three years based on Louisiana’s experience. For the Governor to now act as a savior after ignoring hospitals’ plight for so long would be “egregious” as the source above said.

All this has nothing to do with Medicaid expansion. It will not provide coverage for the working poor. Rather, it will raise existing managed care and fee-for-service Medicaid reimbursements up to maximum federal limits.

“Too late for Tate,” said the runoff predictor. Well, we’ll know on November 7th.

Bill Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.