Post by Logan on Jun 20, 2016 3:34:58 GMT -6
It seems almost quaint now, the optimism that Mississippi legislators expressed in 1999 when they created a health care trust fund.
The idea was to sock away the state’s multimillion-dollar annual payments from a tobacco lawsuit. The trust fund balance would grow, the money would be invested and the state would spend only the earnings to cover health care expenses.
Things didn’t work out as planned.
The Great Recession happened. Budget problems happened. The body of the trust fund was whittled away year by year. And now, the health care trust fund has been drained dry.
The budget summary from the 2016 legislative session shows the fund will have a zero balance on July 1.
Read more: www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/19/what-happened-mississippis-tobacco-lawsuit-money/86122334/
The idea was to sock away the state’s multimillion-dollar annual payments from a tobacco lawsuit. The trust fund balance would grow, the money would be invested and the state would spend only the earnings to cover health care expenses.
Things didn’t work out as planned.
The Great Recession happened. Budget problems happened. The body of the trust fund was whittled away year by year. And now, the health care trust fund has been drained dry.
The budget summary from the 2016 legislative session shows the fund will have a zero balance on July 1.
Read more: www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/19/what-happened-mississippis-tobacco-lawsuit-money/86122334/