Republicans around the country proclaim that conservative remedies, such as repealing "Obamacare," or enacting Paul Ryan's Medicare-warping, tax-slashing budget plan, will solve the nation's health care and economic disparities. However, evidence from Mississippi suggests otherwise.
Mississippi is, by many metrics, an extremely conservative state. In fact, according to Gallup, it is the most conservative state in the union. The governor's and lieutenant governor's offices, as well as both chambers of the state legislature, are controlled by the GOP. Mississippi, according to a report in the Jackson Progressive, has a very regressive income tax, and has one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation.
The state ranks dead last economically, with the lowest per capita income in the country - $30,399 according to the Census Bureau figures for 2008 ($26,899 according to other metrics). Compare that to the national per capita income of $40,208. Additionally, as of 2010, 21.9 percent of Mississippi residents lived below the poverty level, and 10.9 percent were unemployed - much worse than the national rates of about 14 percent and 9 percent respectively.
As the poorest region of the poorest state, the Mississippi Delta illustrates the huge income disparity in the world's richest nation. The Delta is a rural region composed of 17 agricultural counties in the alluvial flood plain of the Mississippi River. The region is historically considered to be one of the most economically and educationally deprived areas of the nation.
The Delta region is the flagship of poverty in the state. According to the U.S. Census, 20 percent of the region's population is on food stamps.
The economic problems of the region have been endemic for quite some time. Even back between 2006 and 2008, while the nation had a 6.8 percent unemployment rate, the Delta held at 12 percent unemployment.
Susan Mayfield-Johnson, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Sustainable Health Outreach at the University of Southern Mississippi, which researches community health in rural Mississippi. Dr. Mayfield-Johnson states that the lack of a viable non-agriculture-based economy in the region has resulted in "stagnant incomes and low-skilled jobs for decades."
The region also experiences significant barriers in education. Only 61.6 percent of adults in the region have a high school diploma, compared to 80.4 percent nationwide. Adults in Mississippi have the highest rate of low literacy in the nation, with 30 percent scoring as "Level 1" on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 2003. Level 1 literacy is generally defined as less than fifth-grade reading and comprehension skills.
Mississippi also leads the nation in a number of health care problems. It has the highest rate of heart disease and the second highest rate of diabetes in the country.
According to the Mississippi Department of Health, the prevalence of adult diabetes in the state increased by 70 percent between 1994 and 2006. The department also reports that one in three Mississippians suffer from hypertension.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among adults in Mississippi, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In fact, one out of every five adults in the state who die under the age of 65 dies from cardiovascular disease. Its prevalence in the state is 33.6 percent higher than in the U.S. as a whole. In the Delta region it is an astonishing 83.5 percent higher.
ABC News reported this month that the five U.S. counties with the lowest life expectancies for women are in the Mississippi Delta. All five counties have life expectancies for women of less than 74 years, which is lower than the nations of Honduras, Peru or El Salvador.
The study that ABC cited also revealed that the five counties with the lowest life expectancies for men are also in Mississippi, and four of them are in the Delta region. The life expectancies for men in these counties are all under 69 years, lower than countries like Brazil or Latvia.
The lack of health care access in the Mississippi Delta is even more staggering and may be a major factor in the health disparities seen in the state. In fact, the Mississippi Department of Health has designated the region as a health professional shortage area.
According to the Delta Health Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at improving health in the region, of the 5,000-plus physicians licensed in the state, only 584 are listed in the 17 Delta counties.
In the entire state there are only 16 diabetes and metabolic specialists, and there is only one in the 17-county Delta region. Of the 12 ophthalmologists in the Delta, only one accepts Medicaid. The state health department offers no chronic disease clinics in the region.
In total, there are 21 hospitals that service the region. The majority of them are small, under 20 beds, and limited in the services they deliver. Three Delta counties - Benton, Carroll and Tunica - have no hospital.
Gov. Haley Barbour's resistance to President Obama's health care reform adds to the region's woes. Barbour claims that the state cannot afford to cover more citizens' health care. "This new law will ultimately force the state to raise taxes, as hundreds of thousands of new people will be added to our Medicaid rolls," Barbour said.
Contrary to the facts, Barbour has claimed, "There's nobody in Mississippi who does not have access to health care." While this is obviously not true (18 percent of the state currently lacks insurance), Barbour has been making the problem worse since he took office in January 2004.
According to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Mississippi cut its Medicaid rolls between 2004 and 2008. Barbour has also taken to cutting the health care safety net to balance the state's budget. He reduced the coverage for 65,000 citizens who qualified for a Poverty-Level Aged and Disability (PLAD) program. The state has also begun requiring unprecedented annual in-person interviews for Medicaid.
Mississippi, dominated by conservative politicians, has health care, income and economic disparities that embody the worst of the nation's ills. And the Delta is the most extreme example. Overall, conservatism doesn't seem to be translating into positive results for the Hospitality State.
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a clear demonstration that racial hatred and simple minded greed are not very smart.
What kind of a country are we that does not care about basic health care for EVERY person?
Thanks for posting, Ryan.
This is the problem with some of the poorest parts of the country; they've been indoctrinated along ideological grounds from birth. They trust the designated leaders that adopt the appropriate demagoguery tactics and blindly follow. On the plus side they're taking such an extreme tactic that hopefully many people are finally seeing how extreme it is and acknowledging the actual facts. Eventually hopefully the rest will follow.
I grew up in N.O. and still have family in the area. And in MS.
Your obvious implication is that white people hating on blacks is
the cause of an economic disaster. Do you have any first hand evidence of this hate? Or how hate causes economic disaster?
If N.O. is an economic disaster, which is a broad term you provide no definition or evidence of, could it be mismanagement or the tough economy we are all dealing with. Do you know the racial demographic of N.O.? Do you know the racial makeup of the politicians that run the city? Do you know the long history of politics and economic decisions of N.O.? So exactly who is hating who?
You have not only make a generalization, you know the racial implication you made. So please explain how this economic disaster is clear evidence of racial hatred.
N.O. does have the advantage of the port, tourism, fishing and hunting, oil and gas among other things. But you blame what you call an economic disaster on hatred.
Mexico is a disaster compared to what it should/could be. Is that racial hatred or corruption. CA is bankrupt. Is that because they hate each other?
N.O. is what it is because of how the people run it. What does hatred have to do with it?
You insult the citizens of N.O. by calling them haters/racists. And what you are really saying is the white people are racists/haters. I think that makes you the racist.
RIP Robert Johnson
The conservative nature of its politicians aren't helping, so there is a point to be made there, but it's probably more obtuse or at least subtle. More about how they are not helping as opposed to actual blame for the situation in the first place. Their economy is kind of beyond just conservative/liberal philosophy. There are other mostly conservative states that aren't even close to the economic situation of MS.
Texas- for example is another conservative state. It is like Mississippi, but rich with natural resources. Like Mississippi, it ranks near the bottom in education. It also ranks in the top 5 for teenage pregnancy (MS is #1) and teenage STDs. Looks like those conservative values (repression) and abstinence-only education are working too!
Texas also likes to claim that is had the fastest job growth in the nation- except that it has the largest number of growth in minimum wage jobs- a wage that is barely able to sustain those who receive it. Rick Perry also accepted Federal Stimulus money to balance the huge holes in his budget- while publicly bragging that he refused $500 million in unemployment benefits. More conservative values- aka F**k the poor!
Texas, again considered a huge conservative model, has a massive budget deficit that it is attempting to solve by (again) cutting taxes, and then gutting out the already underfunded education system.
Mississippi, like Texas, has very little in the way of an effective tax structure- yet they continue to promote the ridiculous notion that tax cuts are the cure-all for any situation. In a recession? Cut taxes! Economy doing well? Cut taxes! Cost of healthcare rising? Cut taxes! Massive budget deficit (caused by massive tax cuts)? Cut taxes!
Perry and I think LA governor did not accept these fed funds because they come with strings attached forcing the states ito
future commitments.
Worry about your state and let MS TX ans LA worry about themselves.
The is whole post reeks of the cliche that the people are too stupid
to know what is good for them. Well I think there are many liberal states that don't seem to know what is best for them either.
Secondly- just because a person isn't in a particular state does not mean that they have no stake in that state's wellbeing. Red states in general, take in more federal money than they pay out in taxes, while the blue states, in general, are the opposite. Thus- we all have a part in seeing that the economic and health disparities exemplified by Mississippi are alleviated.
Honestly- from what I've seen in Mississippi politics- they spend more time raving about "socialism" and abortion than they do recognizing the fact that the state is an economic hell hole with the most regressive tax structure in the nation.
Although, if you live in Mississippi, I can forgive you not knowing that, as Gov. Barbour (who formerly lobbied for tobacco) cut funding for our tobacco-prevention program.
"The film enjoyed wide success in the southern United States, but was banned by the city of Marshall, Texas for its subject matter. There, W. L. Gelling managed the segregated Paramount Theater, where blacks were forced to sit in the balcony. Gelling booked Pinky for exhibition in February 1950. In 1950, the First Amendment did not protect movies (Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio). The City Commission of Marshall “reactivated” the Board of Censors, established by a 1921 ordinance, and designated five new members who demanded the submission of the picture for approval. The board disapproved its showing, stating in writing its “unanimous opinion that the said film is prejudicial to the best interests of the citizens of the City of Marshall.” Gelling nonetheless exhibited the film and was charged with a misdemeanor. Three members of the Board of Censors testified that they objected to the picture because it depicts (1) a white man retaining his love for a woman after learning that she is a Negro, (2) a white man kissing and embracing a Negro woman, (3) two white ruffians assaulting Pinky after she has told them she is colored. Gelling was convicted and fined $200. He appealed the conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. After Gelling filed his appeal, the Court decided the landmark free speech case of Joseph Burstyn, Inc v. Wilson that extended First Amendment protection to films. The Court then overturned Gelling’s conviction." (wiki citation)
AUWE (alas)
R
I must say, though, that I love the place. I do love the place.
I was asked to teach in the Delta but our family convinced me that we could not afford to move or for me to rent a place during the week as the drive was about 3 hours one way from where we live. Against my better judgment, I was convinced to take a last minute position as a chemistry instructor (supposedly qualified people like me are hard to come by) at a prestigious high school in DeSoto County where I grew up (along with some who have become lawyers, authors...). Sadly, I discovered that there is a very strong, conservative power that deliberately keeps people down (unless you are in the status quo) and public schools here are NOT conducive to actual education. While there are some who try to bring MS and TN into the modern era the conservative politicians and the alleged Democrats, do, for the most part, work hard to keep most of the populace down and "in their place."
We have documented our struggles here these last nearly six years and while I am proud of much of my southern heritage and the fact that my family hails from TN and MS (some being here to greet the others from Europe), I must admit the ugly truth that nothing has really changed and in fact, I think it was more progressive back in 1974 which is disturbing.
I love the land and I have met many wonderful people but overall, this area is clearly a third world culture perpetuated by conservative politicians who generally are the biggest welfare queens in agribusiness and elsewhere.
Lastly, the "benefits" for state employees, including teachers, are absolutely useless and only benefit the insurance companies whose coverage is nearly impossible to be accepted by any doctor or dentist's office especially if you live in the tri-state area around Memphis. Of course, the premiums are higher than what you might find in private company policies.
Worst of all, the Delta will continue to be the poorest of the poor as long as these old white dudes who truly seem to believe that the old plantation days still exist are in power. Until the culture can change to get whites to quit thinking that by sucking up to those in power locally and otherwise might get them some crumbs thrown their way, then it won't change. You will also have to get those in the black community who have learned to work the system alongside the white corrupt politicians to understand the same thing.
Good for you, Ryan, for your idealism. Mine is pretty much shot after being back home for six years. Still, I hope to find the strength to get back on track and help make a positive difference without all the violence toward my family, me, and my pets. I have great neighbors who have dealt with this longer than I and only one other person is about all that is left fighting with me. The others are scared to death and with good reason.
Best wishes down there to you and the good people who share your values.
Additionally- it is considered one of the most regressive (i.e. favors the rich over the poor) tax codes, which isn't helping anything.
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Why do you feel it is impossible for them to remain conservative and get it fixed. Are all other conservative states having the difficulties as MS? No.
You think a conservative state being run wrong needs a liberal /progressive solution.
Does it follow that broken progressive state NEEDS a dose of conservatism to fix it.
In fact maybe they dint need a political solution at all. Maybe they need a practical solution that does not need to be politicized.
But then if MS did fix its health care and poverty problems, then maybe by definition they are progressive because they solved it.
It was not just take some money from the feds. It was take it and match it with money the state did not have for some indeterminate
amount of time. It was a way to manipulate / guilt states to raise their own unemployment benefits. Which is another way to break a state.
These Governors had the sense to say no to a bad deal.
I'll give your in need people a meal today if you legal obligate the rest of your people to feed the for a year. A potentially impossible promise. That was a straight out manipulation by Obama. If he wants to send federal tax dollars to the states, send it without strings. I wait to see how it turns out for the states that made the deal they cannot really step up to.