When the Supreme Court ruled on the Obama administration’s health care reform law a  few months ago, the court upheld the right  of the states to decline Medicaid expansion.

States throughout the nation are now looking at the enormous and growing  percentage of their budgets already consumed by Medicaid expenses, and many  simply cannot fathom shouldering the additional burden of even more Medicaid  spending. Mississippi is certainly among those states opposed to expanding the  program.

Beyond differences in philosophies on the role of government, beyond  Obamacare’s superficial approach to righting the issues in America’s health care  system and beyond this law’s inability to put Americans to work in jobs with  decent wages and health care benefits, one fact is certain: Government programs  come with a price.

People tend to forget that government has no dollar that it has not gained  through taxation or borrowing. Even the Obama  administration cannot pay for its massive health care law without raiding  funding from other programs and levying taxes against the American people. After  all, the bills for these expansions will come due, and the money has to come  from somewhere.

Mississippi, too, must decide where it would get the money to pay for more  and more Medicaid. Do we drain money from public safety and education? Do we tax  money out of private revenues and family checking accounts? As governor, I say  we reject the expansion and find a better solution.

More.