First, Governor-elect Bryant, how about rethinking your priorities for the state? Too much of your acceptance speech sounded like the same old partisan cliches (as if you are working for some national Republican campaign). Let's concentrate on Mississippi. And you could do worse than start by looking at the following data (from John McDonough's blog, see here). The first graph is from the Commonwealth Fund and it clearly shows an increase in employer health care premiums from 2003 to 2009. Note that Mississippi is in the "highest percentage of Median Household Income" group.
The second graph is from research that Mr. McDonough has access to from the Harvard School of Public Health. The graph compares the State uninsurance Rate for 2010 (vertical axis) with "Family Premiums as a percentage of Median Income, 2009." Yes, that is Mississippi way over there on the right of the graph.
The relationship isn't perfect and there is a lot left unexplained, but in general the ability to pay makes a big difference. So, Governor-elect, you want to set an agenda for the state: you can begin by taking seriously the growing impact of health care costs on the economic success of Mississippi families. You don't like "Obamacare"? Fine. Tell us what should be done and show us the evidence that it will make things better. Because one thing is for sure: people in Mississippi are going to get sick and it is isn't getting any cheaper to treat them. If you think there is something more important and relevant to the working families of Mississippi (of all income levels), I'm all ears.
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