Perhaps those attending the Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families already knew. But it was pretty startling to read what the newly installed director of the Mississippi State Department of Health told them out loud about healthcare in Mississippi.
“We’re not just 50th,” Dr. Daniel Edney said, as reported by Mississippi Today. “We’re 50th by a mile. I think if we had 60 states we’d be 60th.”
Wow!
Of course, the data detailing Mississippi’s ranking is pretty startling. Much of it has been cited at the hearings – bottom rankings in infant mortality, births to unwed mothers, preterm births, miscarriages and low birthweight rates, and children living in poverty.
Then there are those overall healthcare rankings – the Commonwealth Fund ranked Mississippi last in the nation for health system performance based on access and affordability, prevention and treatment, avoidable hospital use and cost, and racial and ethnic equity; U.S. News and World Report ranked Mississippi last in overall healthcare based on next to bottom rankings in the three categories analyzed – healthcare access, healthcare quality, and public health; Fox Business News reported on a WalletHub.com report that ranked Mississippi’s healthcare system at the bottom based on 42 factors grouped into three broad categories – cost, access, and outcomes. HealthCareInsider.com ranked Mississippi last for mental health care based on three factors – cost, access, and quality.
Edney estimated an additional 5,000 unplanned births would occur annually. His comments came at the hearings the committee held at the direction of Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann to assess the impact the state’s abortion ban will have on mothers and children.
Hmmm.
Mississippi has already carried the label “worst state in the nation to give birth” since WLBT published that headline in 2018. If the state cannot handle existing births any better than it has, what hope do these extra 5,000 babies have?
Hosemann said it’s now incumbent on lawmakers to come up with policies to help mothers and children. The hearings are gathering input to see what may be done. Child advocates of all sorts have testified and brought information. The senate’s committee will hold additional hearings later this month.
House Speaker Philip Gunn finally announced members of his Speaker’s Commission on Life last month. Apparently this group had already been working out of public view. Gunn announced eight areas of need they had identified. However, he made it clear that while he sees an expanded role for churches and the private sector he only wants a limited role for government – government must “up its game” but not expand.
The grim facts and needs about births in Mississippi are front and center. State coffers overflow with money. So, how much, if any, will the Republican controlled Legislature commit to save children they saved from abortions?
“Beware that you don’t look down upon a single one of these little children. For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access to my Father.” – Matthew 18-10.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
24 comments:
Leaves little doubt (as if there WAS any) that Hoseman will run for Governor as a democrat...and if not, why not...the man IS a democrat.
Just as surely as Tulsy is a socialist, masquerading as a libertarian, Delbert, by any definition, is a liberal democrat. That's fine, just...HELL...admit it and move on.
Will Kingfish, Salter, Supertalk or Crawford call Hoseman out? Certainly not.
Crawford sees 'state coffers overflowing with money'. Does he view this 'money-blip' as he did PERS coffers twenty years ago...a never ending magical money tree overflowing with abundant greenery?
He has been one of the few warning about the condition of PERS for quite some time.
It isn't Crawford's warnings that should concern Mississippians. It is his solutions.
If Trump represents the Republican Party of today, I guess all sane people would be considered Democrats.
It would be easy to help many of the unwed mothers and children without fathers. Just make it impossible for a woman to get government benefits for a child unless she states who is the father. Simple, easy, and the numbers of unwed mothers and fatherless children would drop immediately.
Remove the vaccines and see how fast a positive change happens
It is hard to put any faith in these experts opinion when there is no accountability for those who inseminate and leave. And for those that will lay there and take that action repeatedly either. Responsibility is lacking for all involved, including those who think they have the cure.
@10:14am Exactly. Remove the financial incentive to become a "mother" and it will evaporate immediately. Applying for assistance should begin at conception, and if the father has no intention of being involved, then no assistance and she will postpone her family for sure. Which is what's right morally and financially. What's the point of a woman having the right to choose if she doesn't use it when it's MOST appropriate?
10:14, naming a father has been required to receive TANF funds since the Clinton administration. However, the system can be easily gamed by naming the wrong man, then having the paternity issue play out in court for about a year and then have it dismissed with a negative DNA test ( which we the taxpayers pay for if the test is negative) and then renaming a new man, rinse, cycle repeat. Another fun one is having someone in jail with a large sentence admit to paternity, and as they can’t work, no child support is ordered, the mom is in compliance and receives her benefits, and she often will get unreported money under the table from the real dad. There is just no easy answer.
This should have been done before Dobbs. If you want fewer abortions you have to support women and children. Some of that support should be child support from conception. If you want to tell women what to do with their bodies then lets do the same with men. You have a child that ends up needing state assistance then you must undergo a mandatory vasectomy. Fair is fair.
!0:14 and 1:24, y'all are exactly right. Make the fathers financially responsible for the children they help create. Make the women who produce these children responsible for naming the father. Make contraception available and cheap. The decision as to whether or not to have a child should be made while your clothes are still on.
Blogger Kingfish said...
He has been one of the few warning about the condition of PERS for quite some time.
But you won't find evidence of his position when he was in the legislature. You can't, because he forewarned of nothing. Now, when the fruit is on the ground beneath the tree, he points it out. Another example of Captain Obvious riding through town as if he's Paul Revere.
He, like you, Kingfish, warned of nothing until the shit hit the fan and then you both suddenly said, "Hmmm, what's that smell?"
What makes you think that the people who run this state will change anything to prepare for the hypothetical unplanned pregnancies on the horizon? Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate in the country. I'm sure that the powers that be are counting on this to handle at least some of the overflow.
Congratulations to Dr. Edney. Like his predecessor, someday his name will be on some landmark Supreme Court decision outlawing in vitro fertilization, or finding that married people have no right to access contraception. He can make a nice sum signing copies of the opinion, as Mr. Miranda once did.
Too many mattress backs out there that take advantage of the system and fathers who do take care to of their children. Hopefully more and more men will be able to get custody of their children, I do enjoy hearing and seeing more and more women paying child support. Too many horror stories of worthless women out there.
Mississippi is a “pro life” state.
For the love of you and your childrens future please just wait to have kids until both you end your partner are emotionally and financially ready to take care of them. Accidents happen but it can’t be the norm. This would fix so many social problems.
2:50 PM, who ever made the decision to do it that way should be fired. The test results should be given before any benefits start.
I hope you bible thumpers are signing up to support a forced birth baby that yall wanted ...
9:37 - I hope you atheists know that one need not be a 'bible thumper' to care about the rights of the 'ready to be born'.
Doing the right thing doesn't require that one even OWN a Bible.
9:57 - who defines what the right thing is? You think it is fetus over woman. I think it is woman over fetus. You will not change my mind.
10:52 - 9:57 here. I have no intention or desire to change your mind. Your thoughts are as insignificant as a pimple on an ape's ass. The definition of 'right' varies from person to person. I have mine. You have yours. According to the Supreme Court, now the states will decide the issue. I'm sure you will quietly accept the result. If not, tell Pedo-Joe hello from the rest of us.
3:48 - 10:52 here. States will decide, sooner or later, like Kansas. Polls are clear.
Each state stands alone in the authority to decide the outcome of this matter. It matters not what Kansas does if you don't live in Kansas. If you don't like what Mississippi decides, either run for the legislature or move. Or you can make signs and tote them around and holler.
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