It has been over 10 months since a committee tasked with advising the Mississippi Division of Medicaid last met, despite being required by law to meet quarterly.

The agency postponed the committee’s scheduled meeting for Friday and did not set a new date. Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield said the meeting was canceled because of the “transition in executive leadership” after Executive Director Drew Snyder announced his resignation earlier this month.

The Medical Care Advisory Committee is a federally mandated public body that offers expertise and opinions to the Division of Medicaid about health and medical care services. It is made up of doctors, managed care organization representatives and other Medicaid stakeholders.

The advisory group has not met yet this year because new member appointments – made by the governor, lieutenant governor and house speaker – were not finalized until August, said Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield.

The committee’s recommendations have played a crucial role in crafting state Medicaid policy in the past. In 2023, the advisory group’s recommendation contributed to the Legislature‘s passage of postpartum Medicaid coverage. 

The advisory group’s last meeting was Dec. 8, 2023. 

At that meeting, Snyder and a hospital CEO stalled a vote on pregnancy presumptive eligibility, which allows eligible low-income women to receive timely prenatal care, by suggesting that the committee wait to review further information about the policy at a special meeting in January. 

The special meeting never happened. 

Regardless, the Legislature passed a bill that allows low-income pregnant women to be presumed eligible for health care coverage while their Medicaid application is being processed in May 2023. 

No minutes were produced from the December meeting, said Westerfield. Mississippi’s public records law requires that minutes be kept for all meetings of a public body. 

The committee is composed of at least 11 members appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. All members must be health care providers or consumers of health services, and each official must include a board-certified physician among their appointments. 

Mississippi Medicaid Executive Director Drew Snyder also made appointments to the committee in accordance with state law and new federal regulations released in April. 

Gov. Tate Reeves made his appointments in February, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in July, and Speaker of the House Jason White and Snyder in August. 

Hosemann’s spokesperson did not answer a question about the delay in appointments. White did not respond to a request for comment. 

Westerfield said the new federal requirements for the committee affected the timing of Snyder’s appointments. 

The federal policy, which went into effect July 9, heightens the role that beneficiaries play in shaping Medicaid programs and policy. 

The rule requires states to establish a Beneficiary Advisory Council composed solely of Medicaid members, their families and caregivers. Some of those members will serve on the Medical Care Advisory Committee, which will be renamed the Medicaid Advisory Committee, beginning next year.

Mississippi law requires the Medicaid Advisory Committee to provide a written report to the Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House of Representatives before Nov. 30. 

The current members of the committee are as follows: 

• Dr. Jason Dees (Molina Healthcare)
• Dr. Wade Dowell (Indianola Family Medical Group)
• Ellen Friloux (North Mississippi Medical Center)
• Dr. Anita Henderson (Hattiesburg Clinic)
• Joy Hogge (Families as Allies)
• Bennet Hubbard (Advanced Healthcare Management)
• Dr. Jim Hurt (Columbus Orthopaedics)
• Dr. Billy Long (GI Associates, retired)
• Dr. Charles O’Mara (University of Mississippi Medical Center, retired)
• Lesa McGillivray (UnitedHealthcare Community and State)
• Dr. Craig Moffett (Maben Medical Clinic)
• Kent Nicaud (Memorial Health System Hospital at Gulfport)
• Richard Roberson (Mississippi Hospital Association)
• Michael Todaro (Magnolia Health Plan)
• Dr. Marty Tucker (University of Mississippi Medical Center)

The committee also has eight non-voting members, including legislators.

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

A state-funded project to upgrade an already well-paved north Jackson cul-de-sac that runs by a Mississippi lawmaker’s house will go forward, a group of officials who oversee the project said on Thursday. 

Rebekah Staples, the director of the Capitol Complex Improvement District’s Project Advisory Committee, said at the group’s latest meeting that the project to repave the road near the legislator’s home and four other projects the Legislature allocated money for will proceed “as quickly as possible,” though some of the details are still being worked out. 

“I respect the Legislature and the governor passing the law,” Staples said. “We’re here to follow the law.” 

A Mississippi Today investigation revealed that House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, helped steer $400,000 in state taxpayer funds to repave Simwood Place in Jackson, where he owns a house.

Simwood Place, located in the affluent LoHo neighborhood of northeast Jackson, is roughly one-tenth of a mile long, with only 14 single-family homes.

State lawmakers and the local Jackson City Council member who represents the area previously told Mississippi Today they did not ask state leaders to allocate money for the Simwood Place project. Lamar has declined to answer specific questions about the Simwood project but said any “innuendo of wrongdoing is baseless.” 

A spending bill passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves routed projects through the CCID committee. The advisory committee is housed in the Department of Finance and Administration.

DFA is the primary agency responsible for state government financial and administrative operations, including employee payroll, employee insurance and maintaining state buildings. However, the Legislature has also tasked the agency with overseeing some operations of the CCID.

Jackson City Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay is a member of the CCID committee and said she wants the five projects earmarked by the Legislature to proceed, but she does not want the committee to neglect the other projects they are currently overseeing.  

The CCID is funded through a 9% sales tax diversion and recommends to DFA and other state leaders which projects to fund. Efforts to expand the CCID and establish a separate court system within it have drawn outcry from several Jackson citizens and officials who view it as a state takeover of the more affluent areas of Jackson and claim the state otherwise gives the city few resources.

READ MORE: ‘Trey Way’: Millions in taxpayer funds flow to powerful lawmaker’s country club and Jackson neighborhoods

Liz Welch, the director of DFA, said at the meeting that the projects the committee has prioritized and the projects the Legislature has appropriated money for will run concurrently with one another. 

“We will not let these projects languish,” Welch said. “That’s not what we do. We’re going to come up with an internal process, and of course, we will discuss it with the advisory committee. But we’re going to do both.” 

It’s unclear exactly when DFA and the CCID committee will solicit bids for the project, but Staples and Welch said they hope to provide a substantive update to the rest of the committee by its next meeting on January 16.

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

Mississippi Today politics editor Geoff Pender and reporter Taylor Vance answered your questions on Reddit about how powerful House Rep. Trey Lamar helped steer millions of taxpayer dollars to improve the private country club neighborhood where he lives and nearby golf course.

Taxpayers are also footing the bill for another state-funded project that will improve a quiet, already well-paved Jackson street where Lamar also owns a house.

Read their answers below and visit the story summary that will direct you to the full investigation.

Some questions have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What can be done to curb Lamar’s power? Will any of the higher-ups in our state government demand that he step down or be removed from his position?

Q: What was the moment during this investigation that made each of you say, “I cannot believe what I am hearing/reading?”

Q: Have you ever been threatened or intimidated when doing one of these investigations?

Q: What is the wrap up process on an investigation like this like? When you have the final draft, do you all do something to celebrate a job well done?

Q: Has State Auditor Shad White or AG Fitch shown any interest in your investigation?

Q: What other representatives went along with this? He couldn’t have done this without approval of others.

Q: Are you able to confirm if there are more stories of this type coming down the pike?

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