WESSON – Familiar problems such as Medicaid and budget woes -with little agreement on solutions – highlighted this morning’sWesson Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast at Copiah-LincolnCommunity College.

Area lawmakers offered various answers to a current-year $268million Medicaid deficit. District 39 Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith saidthe legislature is dealing with big figures.

“It’s going to take big solutions to address this,” Hyde-Smithsaid.

An approach supported by the Senate is to use approximately $200million from the state’s tobacco trust fund.

“We’re going to have to look at that. There’s no other optionright now,” Hyde-Smith said.

However, District 62 Rep. Tom Weathersby said he is opposed togoing into the tobacco fund. He said using one-time money hashelped get the state into the problems it is facing now.

Weathersby urged looking at various fees, many of which have notbeen raised in years, cutting the budget and raising other revenuewhere possible.

A cigarette tax increase from the current 18 cents a pack hasbeen bandied about the Legislature this year. District 92 Rep. JimBarnett introduced a 50-cents per pack increase but said it shouldhave been more.

“I think I made a mistake. It should have been a $1 a pack,”Barnett said.

Barnett said other proposals include cutting the number ofcovered emergency visits, reducing the number days in hospitals andoffice visits. He also cited Gov. Haley Barbour proposals torecertify recipients both from health and financialstandpoints.

Lawmakers offered other suggestions for reducing Medicaidrolls.

Hyde-Smith said the rolls grew much more than anticipated, from670,000 to 780,000. Barnett said there are more people on Medicaidin Mississippi than the entire state of South Dakota.

“Medicaid is a huge monster across Mississippi, but not onlyMississippi, but across the country,” Holloway added.

Holloway said he is adamantly opposed to people taking advantageof Medicaid.

Holloway mentioned a bill he introduced to give people anincentive to get off Medicaid. It would establish paternity atbirth and hold people accountable.

“All we’re asking people to do is to be accountable andresponsible for their actions,” said Holloway, acknowledging thathis bill failed but that he would reintroduce it next year.

Hyde-Smith said the state needs get experts to identify waysMedicaid is being abused. She said it was “stunning” that therewere no prosecutions of Medicaid abuse last year by the attorneygeneral’s office.

“I’m not willing to raise taxes until those issues areaddressed,” Hyde-Smith said.

The senator indicated that Medicaid growth and spending must becontained.

“We do not need to feed that beast anymore than it’s being fed,”Hyde-Smith said.

Medicaid is just one facet of the overall budget picture.Holloway said addressing the budget situation is a”no-brainer.”

“You cut where you can and raise where you can,” Hollowaysaid.

Agreements on where to raise and where to cut, though, have beenfew. A lack of agreement could prompt an extension of the currentsession.

Barnett said some veteran lawmakers were predicting the sessioncould extend into June. He said the House must work withSenate.

“We’ve got to do away with our petty differences, and we’ve gota lot of them up there,” Barnett said.

Hyde-Smith compared the work in the session to being in fire antbed.

“I sure don’t want to prolong that anymore,” she said.

The senator said however that lawmakers responsibilities forwhich they were elected. She was confident that the budget crisiswill result in cuts that needed to be made years ago.

During today’s breakfast, lawmakers were quizzed on a variety ofother topics ranging from hunting over baited fields, economicdevelopment projects, Barbour’s education plans and the potentialclosure of state parks.

Dist. 36 Sen. Lynn Posey, chairman of the Senate Wildlife,Fisheries and Parks Committee, cited House action to restore $7million to operate the parks. He denied that parks would beclosing.

“As far as wholesale closure of state parks in Mississippi,that’s not going to happen,” Posey said.