Mississippi Today

Despite Gov. Reeves’ debate claims, experts say it’s hard to argue that states are ‘better off’ without Medicaid expansion

Published

1 year ago

November 3, 2023

Gov. Tate Reeves, the state’s most powerful opponent of Medicaid expansion, repeated a familiar claim at Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate: that the program wouldn’t save the state’s failing hospitals.

But health care experts say that was always clear, that the governor’s argument is missing an understanding of the challenges facing the state’s health care system and that expansion, by potentially insuring about a quarter million Mississippians, would allow hospitals to get paid something for the care they provide to uninsured patients versus getting paid nothing.

The first and only debate between Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley ahead of the Nov. 7 election opened Wednesday night with questions about Medicaid expansion, which has remained a title issue of the campaign cycle.

Mississippi is one of just 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. Though most Mississippians support the policy, the governor has remained steadfast in his opposition.

“Medicaid is not the best policy for rural hospitals, but you don’t have to look very far to prove that,” Reeves said at the debate, before citing data from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform’s rural hospital report about Louisiana and Arkansas, two Southern states that have expanded Medicaid.

The center’s most recent version of the report, which was updated last month, shows that Louisiana and Arkansas still have high rates of rural hospitals at risk of closure — 42% and 43%, respectively.

According to the report, 42% of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure.

“Guess what? The difference is… Louisiana and Arkansas have expanded Medicaid,” Reeves continued. “Mississippi has not. (Medicaid expansion) is not the financial windfall that Brandon Presley would have you believe.”

The heart of Reeves’ argument misses some major points, experts said.

“To say that other states that expanded have had the same problems is a very true statement,” said Ryan Kelly, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Health Association. “But would they be worse off without (Medicaid expansion) in the current environment? Yes, I think they would be.”

According to the center’s report, the average percentage of rural hospitals at risk of closure in non-expansion states is over 37%, while the percentage in expansion states is much lower at 26%.

“What [Reeves is] saying is true,” said Harold Miller, leader of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. “Those are the numbers.”

However, expansion is about more than just “saving” hospitals, Miller said — it’s about insuring vulnerable people, allowing them to receive regular health care.

While emergency rooms cannot turn down patients regardless of their insurance status, doctor’s offices can, preventing people from receiving preventative and other non-urgent forms of health care.

Somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 Mississippians would be affected by Medicaid expansion, according to projections. The policy would potentially bring in billions within its first few years of implementation in Mississippi, an influx of cash that the state needs. Just minutes later during the same debate, Reeves touched on Mississippi’s economy, and the “competitive disadvantage” the state’s up against when it comes to economic development.

Miller said hospitals in states that have expanded Medicaid do have greater losses on Medicaid services — Medicaid typically reimburses hospitals at lower rates than commercial insurance for health care services.

Reeves used that argument during the debate.

“The unintended consequence of expanding Medicaid to 300,000 Mississippians is moving individuals off of private insurance,” he said. “That’s bad for rural hospitals as well, because the fact is that when you move them from private insurance, the reimbursement rates… are actually lower when they go on Medicaid.”

But that’s better than not getting paid at all, according to Kelly.

Hospitals report losing about $600 million on uncompensated care annually, or services provided to people who aren’t insured. That number would reduce drastically if Medicaid was expanded.

Experts agree that the hospital crisis, while heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been caused by a multitude of factors. In the same vein, it won’t be solved by one policy.

Kelly cited all of the other challenges hospitals are up against, including timely insurance reimbursements and rising health care costs, but he conceded that expansion would aid hospitals’ uncompensated care losses, an issue that’s fueling the crisis.

“You’re going to have a real hard time finding someone who would say hospitals would be better off without Medicaid expansion,” Kelly said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Amy St. Pé defeats Jennifer Schloegel in state Court of Appeals runoff

Published

7 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2024-11-26 20:48:00

Amy St. Pé , an attorney from Jackson County, defeated Jennifer Schloegel, a chancery judge, on Tuesday night for an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

With 94% of the vote reported, the Associated Press projected that St. Pé, who led with 61.5% of the vote, would defeat Schloegel, who trailed at 38.5%. The runoff election pitted two prominent Gulf Coast names against one another and saw hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars spent in the race.

St. Pé is a municipal judge in Gautier. Schloegel is a chancery court judge in Hancock, Harrison and Stone counties.

Whenever St. Pé is installed as the judge replacing outgoing Judge Joel Smith, she will be one of five women serving on the 10-member Court of Appeals, the highest number of women who have ever served on the court at one time.

Election results: Mississippi Court of Appeals runoff

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

Egg Bowl week: Despite it all, one of America’s hottest rivalries endures

Published

10 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Rick Cleveland – 2024-11-26 17:00:00

It’s Egg Bowl Week in the Magnolia State, as integral a part of Thanksgiving weekend in Mississippi as turkey, oyster dressing and casseroles.

So, without further adieu, and in no particular order, my five most memorable Egg Bowls of the nearly 50 I have witnessed:

1) The Immaculate Deflection: Ole Miss led 24-23 at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in 1983 when Artie Cosby, one of the best place-kickers in Mississippi history, lined up for a 27-yard, chip shot field goal. I was standing under the goal posts at the south end of the stadium amid gusting winds that threatened my balance. Cosby’s kick appeared perfect and then one of those 60 mph gusts blew the ball straight up into the air and then backward. Today, you would swear the scene was created by artificial intelligence. So it was that Billy Brewer’s first Ole Miss team went to a bowl game. So it was that State coach Emory Bellard told me postgame, “God just decided that Mississippi State wasn’t going to win that game.”

2) Back to Veterans Memorial Stadium and back to 1981. Ole Miss trailed State 17-14 with just 13 seconds to play. John Fourcade aimed a pass toward his crackerjack receiver Michael Harmon in the end zone. What happened next is Egg Bowl lore. State fans will tell you Harmon pushed off. The back judge, Dick Pace, instead ruled that State defensive back Kenneth Johnson, who intercepted the pass, was guilty of pass interference. With first down from the one, Fourcade faked a handoff and circled right end for the game-winning touchdown and then proceeded to wave the ball at State fans on his way back to the sidelines. For years, I had a running joke with Harmon. “You know you pushed off, Michael,” I’d tell him, to which he’d reply with a smile, “That’s not what the official said…”

3) Back to Scott Field for the 1997 Egg Bowl and another thrilling finish. Stewart Patridge, a clutch quarterback if there ever was one, drove Ole Miss on a last-minute drive for a touchdown and winning two-point conversion in a 15-14 Rebel victory. As exciting as the finish was, the pregame fireworks were just as memorable. A pregame brawl broke out, which, of course, State blamed on Ole Miss and Ole Miss blamed on State. I remember this: Mississippi Highway Patrolmen watched, seemingly amused, until it became apparent that somebody was going to get maimed, if not killed. It took officers a while, but they stopped it.

4) This happened in 2007 at Starkville, two days after I had written a column saying it was time for Ole Miss to find a new football coach, that the Ed Orgeron experiment has failed. Ole Miss, winless in the SEC and last in the league in every major statistical category, led 14-0 in the fourth quarter and faced fourth and one at midfield. State had gained only four first downs the entire game. Nevertheless, Orgeron decided to go for a first down instead of punting. State stuffed BenJarvus Green-Ellis for a two-yard loss. Suddenly, the Scott Field crowd was back in the game and so was State. To make a long story short, the final score: State 17, Ole Miss 14. Orgeron was fired the next day.

5) The Piss and Miss: Nobody who saw it will forget what happened at Scott Field in 2019. Ole Miss wide receiver Elijah Moore, who has become a terrific pro, snagged a short touchdown pass with four seconds remaining to cut State’s lead to 21-20. Moore celebrated on his hands and knees, hiking a leg as if he were a dog peeing in the State end zone. Officials did not appreciate Moore’s taste in humor and flagged him 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Ole Miss missed the ensuing PAT and State won 21-20, costing Ole Miss coach Matt Luke his job and earning a $75,000 bonus for State coach Joe Moorhead, who was subsequently fired. Interestingly, State received a Music City Bowl bid as a result of the victory, which added $2.75 million to the SEC’s bowl pool. So Ole Miss received an extra $100,000 or so in its SEC bowl share because of Moore’s antics. What’s more, Ole Miss hired Lane Kiffin to replace Luke and State hired Mike Leach to replace Moorhead. You could not make all this up if you tried.

Here are five Egg Bowls I wish I had seen:

1) The first one ever in 1901: The opening kickoff was delayed 45 minutes because — believe it or not — there was a heated dispute. Ole Miss accused State of playing non-students, including one who had played for Ole Miss the year before. Finally, the game began and State won 17-0 in a game called for darkness in the third quarter.

2) In 1907, the Rebels and the Bulldogs sloshed onto the field on a cold, gray day at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson after several days of relentless rain. Much of the field was underwater, some of it knee-deep according to newspaper reports. The State men proved better mudders, winning 15-0, in part because Ole Miss coach Frank Mason provided an urn of coffee spiked with whiskey to warm his players. When asked about his team’s travel plans afterward, Mason said the team would leave for Oxford that night, but that he would not. And, he added, “I hope I never see them again.” He likely never did. He was fired shortly thereafter.

3) In 1918, the teams played not once but twice. State won 34-0 at Starkville and then two weeks later 13-0 at Oxford. The Rebels were coached by none other than Dudy R. Noble, a State graduate who later would become State’s beloved athletic director. “I know what hell is like,” Noble would tell folks. “I once coached at Ole Miss.”

4) In 1926 at Starkville, Ole Miss won 7-6 ending a 13-game losing streak to its bitter rival. Rebels fans and players celebrated, intending to tear down the goal posts. A melee ensured during which State fans reportedly attacked the Ole Miss celebrants with wooden chairs. As a result, a football-shaped trophy — the Golden Egg — was created to be awarded each year to the winning team (in lieu of goal posts). Thus, the Battle for the Golden Egg, later shortened to Egg Bowl. As noted, the trophy has done little to curb fighting, before games or after.

5) In 1941 at Oxford, State and Ole Miss played for the SEC championship for the only time in history. State won 6-0 to claim the only outright SEC title in Bulldog history. The late, great William Winter, a future governor, covered that game as an Ole Miss student reporter. More than seven decades later, he recounted the game, remembering even the most minute details. When an interviewer, this one, expressed amazement at Winter’s keen memory for something that happened 73 years before, he replied, “Well, you have to understand it was the most important thing in my life at the time.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

Live election results: Mississippi Supreme Court, Court of Appeals runoffs

Published

11 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Mississippi Today – 2024-11-26 16:40:00

Polls will close at 7 p.m. today as voters in central Mississippi choose a state Supreme Court justice and those in south Mississippi choose a state Court of Appeals judge in runoff elections.

In the Jackson Metro area and parts of central Mississippi, incumbent Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens faces Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County. In areas on the Gulf Coast, Jennifer Schloegel and Amy St. Pé square off for an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

Below are the results compiled by The Associated Press. Results will begin automatically updating after polls close at 7 p.m.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.