Lafayette County’s health department started reducing its hours on Monday.

Instead of being open every day of the week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., it is now only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday during those hours. The cause for the cut, the health department spokeswomen said, was due to a reduction in need for services.

Yes, due to changes in federal health care laws, there are more people signing on for Obamacare instead of paying a penalty on their taxes. More people who could have fallen through the cracks due to income requirements years ago are now qualifying for health care that is reasonably affordable.

While more people qualify to have a primary care physician and have the joy of waiting for three hours to see a doctor, nothing can replace the convenience and comforting knowledge that a health department clinic is right there, open, accessible and ready to serve residents, no matter what.

We understand with new health care insurance laws there was a reduction in need and people were not frequenting the health department enough, and the legislature was forced to remove $1 million in funding statewide.

What we don’t want to see is those cutbacks continue and eat into infectious disease control and restaurant inspections. The well-being of Mississippians is not something to be cut.