On a certain level, Mississippi’s Medicaid fight boils down to politics. The situation started when the Legislature approved cutting in the Medicaid program.

That originally involved cutting 65,000 patients from the program, although Barbour then got permission from the federal government to keep 17,000 on dialysis and chemotherapy and others with severe health needs on the program.

When a group of health care advocates sued the state last week, charging not enough advance notice was given to those who would be cut, Hood sided with them.

Barbour then said assistant attorneys general had given advice about termination letters, according to an Associated Press article.

”It is the first time I’ve ever heard of a lawsuit where somebody’s lawyer changed horses in midstream and sued their client for doing what the lawyer told them to do,” Barbour said.

Barbour has also accused Hood of having political motivations for intervening in the lawsuit.

Hood was then quoted as saying that ”if I wanted to play partisan politics with this, I’d just let it go into effect because I don’t think we’d have another Republican governor this century.”

Stop it, guys.

Instead of letting egos lead the way, simply work toward a common goal.

That is, finding the best way to make sure Mississippians have the best health care coverage possible.

That’s what would really serve the public.

Meanwhile, the state’s Medicaid recipients are left wondering about their future.