Mississippi Today
House Medicaid Committee passes postpartum coverage extension
House Medicaid Committee passes postpartum coverage extension
After months of contention, extended postpartum health coverage coverage for Mississippi moms is one step closer to becoming law.
The House Medicaid Committee, in its first meeting this legislative session, voted Tuesday to advance legislation that would extend postpartum Medicaid benefits from two months to a year.
“This bill demonstrates that we as policymakers also recognize that our commitment to life cannot end once a baby takes his or her first breath,” said Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg.
READ MORE: FAQ: What is postpartum Medicaid extension, exactly?
Health professionals and medical organizations have long recommended the policy change. Citing data that shows Mississippi’s already-dismal mortality rate is getting worse, they say health problems continue for people who give birth for far longer than two months postpartum. The legislation has the potential to affect thousands — two-thirds of babies born in Mississippi are born to people on Medicaid.
Dr. Dan Edney, state health officer, told Mississippi Today the passage of this legislation is “absolutely necessary” to improve health outcomes in Mississippi.
“This is low hanging fruit for us … because we have way too many of our moms dying related to pregnancy,” Edney said. “It’s one of the worst health disparities that we have.”
“I’m so proud to see where we’re moving with postpartum. Everybody that’s in this wheelhouse agrees — there are no dissenters.”
Until now, House leadership has made the final steps toward the legislation becoming law impossible – despite the fact that most representatives support the legislation, according to a survey conducted by Mississippi Today.
Over the past two years, the Senate has passed multiple measures to extend postpartum coverage in Mississippi. House Speaker Philip Gunn blocked the legislation from coming to a vote last year in the House and appeared poised to do so again this year.
But Gov. Tate Reeves, who has adamantly opposed the legislation, reversed course this weekend and urged state politicians to pass it.
Following his announcement, Division of Medicaid Executive Director Drew Snyder, whose department for months has refused to take a stance on postpartum coverage extension, wrote a letter on Feb. 27 to House Speaker Philip Gunn voicing his support for the legislation’s passage. The Division of Medicaid is housed under the governor’s office.
Gunn subsequently said that he would not block the legislation from coming to the House floor, as he did during the 2022 legislative session, though he appeared to walk the statement back slightly in an interview with SuperTalk on Feb. 28.
“I noticed on your website here you say that Speaker Gunn is going to let the people vote,” Gunn said. “Well, we’ve not decided to do that yet. We decided to move the bill out of the committee and keep it alive.”
In his letter, Snyder estimated the policy change would cost the state $7.1 million, according to House Medicaid Committee Chair Joey Hood, R-Ackerman. The state currently has $3.9 billion in surplus funds.
Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, said during the meeting that he was disappointed that it took the leadership of the state feeling like their backs were “against the wall” for this legislation to pass the committee.
“It is a shame that we have to wait for the political winds to turn or somebody that feels like they’re not going to be able to be reelected to do something like this,” he said. “This is a moment that we should be celebrating the lives of women who actually bring life. But yet, it is a political ploy in this process.”
About the allegation of political theater, Hood had “no comment” in an interview with reporters.
As the state expects thousands more births following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last summer to overturn abortion rights, McGee said this measure is necessary to protect the lives of Mississippians and their babies — by providing longer postnatal care, the risk of preterm birth lowers. Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate, preterm birth rate and low birthweight rate in the country.
“Healthy moms equal healthy babies, and if we care about babies, we must show that we care for and value their mothers,” she said.
Despite the legislation’s passage in the house committee, now its future is up to Hood — he decides when and if it makes it onto the House floor.
Following the meeting, Hood said there was “no timetable” regarding when the legislation might make it to the House.
“It’s on the calendar. We’re just going to continue to work it through the process,” he said, citing a line he’s repeated to the media in recent weeks.
“You know how the legislative process is,” he said. “We still have a long way to go.”
If the legislation passes, Mississippi will join 29 other states that have extended postpartum Medicaid coverage to one year.
READ MORE: ‘Mississippi moms can’t wait’: Doctors urge legislators to extend postpartum coverage
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=210323
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1997
Dec. 22, 1997
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers.
In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.”
He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.”
The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi
About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.
The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.
Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.
During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.
“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”
White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.
Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.
White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.
Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.
People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.
White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.
They are correct.
But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.
As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.
Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.
That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.
Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?
If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.
The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.
In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1911
Dec. 21, 1911
Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia.
When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs.
He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame.
The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays.
Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
-
News from the South - Arkansas News Feed7 days ago
Faith-inspired ministry opens health clinic in Little Rock
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed6 days ago
‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ ‘Up in Smoke’ among movies entering the National Film Registry
-
Our Mississippi Home6 days ago
The Meaning of the Redbird During the Holiday Season
-
Mississippi Today4 days ago
Mississippi PERS Board endorses plan decreasing pension benefits for new hires
-
Local News2 days ago
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi Honors Veterans with Wreath-Laying Ceremony and Holiday Giving Initiative
-
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed2 days ago
Social Security benefits boosted for millions in bill headed to Biden’s desk • NC Newsline
-
News from the South - Missouri News Feed2 days ago
Could prime Albert Pujols fetch $1 billion in today's MLB free agency?
-
Mississippi News Video3 days ago
12/19- Friday will be breezy…but FREEZING by this weekend