Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film, “12 Angry Men” is broadly considered a classic.
The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt. It starts with a single hold-out against conviction (Henry Fonda’s Juror #7) with the jury slowly tilting toward acquittal one by one until the final holdout (Lee J. Cobb’s Jury #3) tearfully yields as the audience learns his opposition is deeply-rooted in his bitter estrangement with his son, who he closely identifies with the young defendant.
Lumet’s film version inspired numerous adaptations for stage, film and TV.
If someone were to develop an adaptation based on the debate over whether Mississippi should become the 41st state to expand Medicaid coverage to low-wage earners, there could be just one choice to play the role of Juror #3. It would have to be Tate Reeves.
When states first had the opportunity to expand Medicaid almost entirely at the federal government’s expense under a provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), the figurative Mississippi jury was stacked against it.
In those first years, there was virtually no mention of Medicaid expansion in the legislature. The main argument was that the AFA would be repealed and replaced with the next Republican administration. It didn’t happen. Each year, states expanded Medicaid, South Dakota and North Carolina becoming the 39th and 40th expansion state this year.
Yet Mississippi resistance has been eroding in the past few years as uncompensated hospital care, more than $600 million annually, threatens the solvency of as many as 33 of the state’s 74 rural hospitals while reducing services at others.
Until 2019, leaders of the House, Senate and Governor’s office were solidly opposed to Medicaid expansion and yielded the power to stop it. But when Reeves moved into the Governor’s office, Delbert Hosemann was elected Lt. Governor and said he was open to “expanding healthcare opportunities” although he was deliberate in not calling it Medicaid Expansion — a rose by any other name, as Shakespeare observed.
House Speaker Phillip Gunn announced his retirement this year. The presumptive new Speaker, Jason White, may share Gunn’s ultra-conservative views, but differs on the subject of Medicaid expansion. The legislator, mindful of the precarious state of hospitals in his rural Holmes County district, went on record last week saying he would allow the House to consider expansion when the 2024 term begins.
That’s a clear path in both the Senate and House. In May, a Mississippi Today survey showed that 67 of the 88 representatives who responded said they either supported Medicaid expansion or were undecided. In the Senate, 25 of 43 senators who responded either support or are undecided.
That leaves Tate Reeves, aka Juror #3 as the lone hold-out.
As with Cobb’s character, Reeves is backed into a corner as he struggles to justify his position. First, he said he was opposed to “more welfare” in the state, a transparently flawed argument. No money goes into the hands of a Medicaid patient. Those funds go to health care providers as reimbursement for services provided to the patient.
More recently, Reeves has said that instead of expanding Medicaid coverage for low wage-earners, those workers should get better jobs, jobs that make private health care affordable and/or jobs where the employer contributes to the employee’s health care plan.
It is an absurd argument. A worker may leave a low-paying job, but the job remains. As long as there is a need for people to cut our lawns, cook and serve meals at restaurants, ring up our purchases at our shops, stock the shelves at our grocery stores, clean our hotel rooms and style our hair, good hard-working people without access to affordable health care will do that work. Most of us care about these people. They are our friends, our neighbors. They sit beside us in church pews. Our kids and their kids are schoolmates. They are not lazy, not people of low character.
Public opinion is shifting. The most recent polling shows 75% of Mississippians (and 59% of Republicans) approve Medicaid expansion.
Reeves is increasingly isolated on this issue. His challenger for governor, Brandon Presley, is beating his brains out on it.
Even so, it seems Reeves cannot turn back. His pride, his obstinance will not permit it.
Our Juror #3 refuses to see the benefits of Medicaid expansion. He sees only “Obamacare.” it is a bitterness that may ultimately consume him.
So be it, then.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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