There’s been a lot of hostage-taking at the state Capitol thisyear.

Depending on your point of view, either 65,000 Medicaidrecipients or the Department of Human Services has been heldhostage by either the House of Representatives or the stateSenate.

House members have said Senators held Medicaid hostage by notincluding recipients in legislation to reauthorize DHS. Senatorssay it’s the other way around, that DHS is being held hostage byRepresentatives’ insistence on including Medicaid reinstatement inthe DHS bill.

The real hostages in the legislative impasse are recipients ofboth agencies’ services: about 650,000 DHS clients and 65,000current Medicaid recipients who are scheduled to be transitioned toMedicare in September.

Members of both groups face uncertain futures as lawmakers andGov. Haley Barbour squabble over who has authority to do what.Since the final days of the regular legislative session and now twospecial sessions, the executive and legislative branches remain atloggerheads over a solution to the dispute.

Barbour has issued an executive order to continue DHSoperations. However, a court ruling nullifying his authority couldclose DHS doors and leave recipients out in the summer heat.

The governor’s authority to delay the Medicaid-to-Medicareswitch could also be challenged. If a court rules he does not havethat authority, former Medicaid recipients could immediately besearching for Medicare answers to meet their monthly healthneeds.

Fear and confusion remain the order of the day as a Sept. 15switch date looms on the horizon.

Barbour hopes the two and a half months between now and thenwill provide an opportunity for better implementation and a betterexplanation of how the change to Medicare will affect recipients.Some lawmakers, particularly those in the House, remain skepticaland it appears doubtful that they can be convinced otherwise.

It seems another special session would only take the state downthe road to finger-pointing and another round of the blamegame.

Real leadership, perhaps in the form of court orders, must befound to resolve the Medicaid and DHS issues. Someone has to stepup and free the real hostages.