Medicare and Medicaid
Perhaps Mr. (Slim) Smith needs to do a little research on the difference between Medicare and Mississippi Medicaid. In his column in The Dispatch on Sunday Dec. 29, ( Resolutions I don’t have to keep) he referred to Gov. Phil Bryant refusal to expand “Medicare.” Gov. Bryant has nothing to do with Medicare which is health insurance for people 65 or older or for people under 65 with certain disabilities. It is a federal program and is funded by taxes paid by employers and employees.
Medicaid is a federal-state program for poor and disabled, and I believe that this is the program to which Mr. Smith meant to refer in his column. Mississippi now has 850,000 people on Medicaid, one out of every four Mississippians receive benefits from Medicaid.
Thank you in advance for correcting this error.
Nan Lott
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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