Jackson Jambalaya

The Weidie Report blasts the Mississippi Hospital Association for a "cancer of disgrace" that "spreads from Jackson County to the Capital City."  TWR is operated by Wayne Weidie.  Mr. Weidie was once a journalist and served as a chief of staff for then-Congressman Gene Taylor.  Mr. Weidie starts out by teeing off on the Singing River Fiasco:

But on late Tuesday evening the Mississippi House of Representatives, at least for the time being, got its act together as it relates to publicly owned hospitals throughout the state. State Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula spearhead his legislation, SB 2407, through unanimous passage in the Mississippi Senate. SB 2407 removed the open meetings and public records exemption for all county-owned hospitals in the state. Then the Mississippi Hospital Association went to work. 

 MHA is an extremely powerful force in state politics. However, that is not the same thing as being a force for good for the citizens of Mississippi. After Wiggins’ bill passed the Senate it was sent to the House Public Health Committee. That’s when MHA and the University of Mississippi Medical Center pulled their strings. When SB 2407 came out of the committee it was gutted and only applied to the Singing River Health System. While things looked bleak, fortunately State Rep. Charles Busby, also of Pascagoula, stepped up to the plate. A Busby amendment restored the teeth of Wiggins’ bill and applied the exemption removals to all county-owned hospitals, not just Singing River. .....

Mr. Weidie provided more information about this fight and Singing River that is particularly interesting and worth reading.  He then focused his attention solely on MHA:

Even more incredible is the income reported by the Mississippi Hospital Association. According to GuideStar, IRS Form 990 for MHA shows that the association had more than $10 million in revenue in their most recent filing that is listed on the GuideStar website. GuideStar provides information on more than 1.8 million tax exempt non-profits. How can any trade association in Mississippi have revenues of $10 million? Over $7 million of that figure is from member dues and assessments. Yes, MHA is in the healthcare insurance business, Healthcare Providers Insurance Company, but HPIC is a separate for-profit entity and those revenues are not part of the $10 million. If the legislation is approved to remove the open meetings and public records exemption for county-owned hospitals, one of the first things citizens should demand is to see how much in dues and assessment those hospitals, especially Singing River, are paying to MHA.  Rest of post. 

MHA is the main provider of medical malpractice insurance in Mississippi.  It earns over $10 million per year in insurance premiums.  The most recent annual report is posted below.  The report states that technically the company is located in South Carolina but it is owned by the MHA.  The vast majority of its premiums come from Mississippi. 

Kingfish note: The tax returns state then-CEO Sam Cameron earned $1.7 million in compensation in 2012.  However, the CFO told the Sun-Herald that over a million dollars was "cashing out" (my words) of Cameron's retirement accounts and compensation.  Cameron's compensation was between $400,000 and $500,000 per year during the previous years. 

Earlier post with copy of MHA's most recent tax return.