The Clarion Ledger has met with major candidates for governor on multiple issues, including Medicaid and. Each candidate was asked about the same issues. (Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has agreed to an interview later this month, and will be included in the series then.)

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Hood said he supports expanding Medicaid in Mississippi, both for health and economic reasons.

"You put a billion dollars in the economy, it has a huge impact," the attorney general said in a recent interview with the Clarion Ledger. "There's no reason not to (expand) other than partisan politics."

Hood, 57, said he is receptive to a recent expansion plan pitched by Mississippi hospitals, which would charge patients a fee to help cover the state's portion of the costs. That plan, called Mississippi Cares, could extend government insurance coverage to about 300,000 low-income Mississippians. It would tap roughly $1 billion annually in federal funds. And the state would pay its share with fees levied on patients, and contributions from hospitals, not state taxpayers.

"I applaud their efforts to put this issue on the table and put together a plan," Hood said of the hospitals.

Mississippi elections: What you need to know

The Affordable Care Act allowed states to cover more residents under Medicaid starting five years ago. But the law, pushed by President Barack Obama, remains unpopular among many Republicans, and Mississippi is one of 14 states that have declined to accept billions of dollars of federal money for expansion.

A frequent concern centers around whether Mississippi can afford to cover its share of expansion costs. But without expansion, many Mississippians are going without health insurance, and hospitals are forced to cover more uncompensated costs. This has put many rural hospitals in financial peril.

Hood mentioned a woman from his community, whose story the Clarion Ledger recently covered, who couldn't get care fast enough because the local hospital had shut down its ER several years ago. She died from an asthma attack.

"That's like a third-world country," Hood said.

"That's insane for us not to take care of those folks, and keep those hospitals open, because those are the best paying jobs in most rural communities like mine," he said.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Contact Luke Ramseth at 601-961-7050 or lramseth@gannett.com. Follow @lramseth on Twitter.