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Barbour: Cuts in 23 days. Is Medicaid going under the knife? 

Unless either House Democrats or Republican Gov. Haley Barbour retreat from current positions over the next three weeks, Mississippi Medicaid recipients could begin feeling massive budget cuts as soon as Aug. 4. . . .

But state Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said that Democratic lawmakers tell him that the House has compromised as well, but that the sticking point for the House leadership is Barbour's refusal to consider a cigarette tax as part of an overall Medicaid funding solution. . . .

Asked about House criticism of his refusal to expand the special session call to include the state's cigarette tax, Barbour said: "No cigarette tax made it to my desk from the 2008 regular session and I'm not going to tweak the special session call to give the hospitals a $90 million tax cut."

"What the members are saying is that Gov. Barbour needs to put the cigarette tax in the special session call or the House can't compromise to any further degree," said Flaggs. "I think that's simply a result of knowing that we're already $17 million behind on the state's revenue estimate."

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