In the American South, Covid-19 Could Find Fertile Ground
IN EARLY 2018, Bill Crawford learned that Mississippi lawmakers intended to shrink Medicaid reimbursements by 5 percent. Crawford, a longtime community leader from Meridian, worried about the wisdom of cutting funds for medical care in the throes of an influenza epidemic.
He sat down and typed out a column for the Mississippi Business Journal, describing a situation across the state that looked grim. “Mothers with sick babies on Medicaid have trouble getting timely access to providers. Clinics are backed up, hospital emergency rooms are on patient diversion, and too many children are really sick,” wrote Crawford, a Republican who once represented the state’s 83rd district in the legislature. Given the burdens of the flu, he warned, further cuts to Medicaid could cripple small town hospitals, half of which are already reported to be at the brink of failure. Next door, in Alabama, 88 percent of rural hospitals operate in the red.
“Before any of this coronavirus came along, we were facing significant challenges in the health care area,” said Crawford, who is 72 and now lives in Jackson. Today, with the relentless advance of the disease known as Covid-19, Crawford worries about his state’s vulnerability — especially given that the population is generally older, poorer, less insured, and stricken with higher rates of chronic disease than urban hubs. Mississippi, which has the lowest life expectancy in the country, is one of 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
“The attitude down here is that we don’t want government involvement in our lives,” Crawford said. “We wanted it when Katrina hit — when there’s a catastrophe. But otherwise in the general South right now, we don’t want it. We want to get rid of regulation. We don’t want to spend any money. We want to cut taxes. And that’s fine. But if you don’t tend to your essential infrastructure, you really put yourself at risk.”
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https://undark.org/2020/03/23/in-the-american-south-covid-19-could-find-fertile-ground/
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