When lawmakers head back to Jackson for a special sessionsometime between now and June 30, it would be a good idea for themto find a stable, long-term solution to funding the state’sMedicaid budget.

In the regular session that ended earlier this month, lawmakersfailed to find common ground on how to plug a $90 million hole inthe Medicaid budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. Asa result of the unfortunate stalemate, citizens will be payingalmost $60,000 for the first day and then $39,420 a day forsubsequent days in special session.

The funding dispute revolves around an impasse between Housedesires to hike the state’s cigarette tax and a plan proposed byGov. Haley Barbour to impose a bed tax on state hospitals. A sideissue that has stirred some controversy is a plan that calls forface-to-face recertification of Medicaid eligibility forclients.

The funding issue is of paramount importance as the $90 millionactually means about $360 million – due to federal matching money -to help provide health care services for about a quarter of thestate’s population. A solution – whether it be a cigarette taxhike, a bed tax or some combination of both – must be found.

Also, while advocates have complained that the face-to-facerecertification rule puts a burden on some recipients, particularlythose without transportation, the program, though, has thepotential to weed out fraud and waste – and thereby also reduce theamount of dollars the state must pour into Medicaid to keep itgoing.

Medicaid is also making headlines on the national level as theU.S. House last week voted to block Bush administration efforts tocut federal spending for the health care program by $13 billionover the next five years. The House vote was large enough tooverride a threatened Bush veto, but the legislation has yet to beacted upon by the U.S. Senate.

Governors of all 50 states, state Medicaid directors and othersoppose the new Bush rules. But whether by implementation of therules or perhaps some form of compromise, Medicaid spending isnevertheless on the federal radar and could be reduced at somepoint in the future.

Given the state’s reliance on Medicaid for the number ofcitizens served, any changes at the federal level have thepotential for a major impact on Mississippi. That is all the morereason for state lawmakers to quit squabbling and to get theirducks in a row on a stable funding stream for such an importantprogram as Medicaid.