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House Republicans reject Medicaid expansion on floor, say plan to aid hospitals is coming

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House Republicans reject Medicaid expansion on floor, say plan to aid hospitals is coming

The House Republican majority rejected a Medicaid expansion amendment on the floor Wednesday that supporters said would aid the state’s struggling hospitals.

The amendment, offered Wednesday by House Minority Leader Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, would have prevented the appropriation for the Mississippi Division of Medicaid from going into effect until Medicaid was expanded to provide health care coverage for the working poor.

The amendment was supported by 41 Democrats and one independent. Five Republicans and one independent did not vote.

READ MOREPoll: 80% of Mississippians favor Medicaid expansion

Since the vote was on the budget for the Division of Medicaid, Democrats could not offer an amendment mandating the expansion of Medicaid. Instead, under provisions of the Mississippi Constitution, only conditions can be placed on budget bills, such as the money cannot be appropriated to the agency until Medicaid is expanded.

The Johnson amendment also would have mandated that the Division of Medicaid could not be funded until funds were committed:

  • For neonatal intensive care in the Delta.
  • To prevent the closure of hospitals in immediate danger of closing.
  • To restore services for a burn center in Hinds County.

Johnson told his colleagues that in the past few days, his mother had to be rushed to the hospital late at night.

“What I was thankful for is that a brick-and-mortar hospitals with doctors and nurses were right there in Adams County,” Johnson said, adding his mother is recovering. He said that there are areas in the state where health care is not as accessible. Citing reports that 28 hospitals or more in Mississippi are on the brink of closure, Johnson said there could be more areas in the state where health care would not be as readily accessible.

“This is the hill I am going to die on this session,” said Johnson. “It is the hill I am going to stay on … It is a matter of life and death.”

Thirty-nine states have approved the expansion of Medicaid with another, North Carolina, currently debating the issue in its legislature.

The Mississippi Hospital Association and many state health care groups have advocated Medicaid expansion as a method to help struggling hospitals and to provide health insurance to primarily the working poor in the state.

Republican leaders — primarily House Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves — have staunchly opposed expansion, describing it as a welfare program. Plus, they claim the state cannot afford to pay for the expansion.

But multiple studies have concluded that in Mississippi, Medicaid expansion, with the federal government paying the bulk of the cost, would be a boon to both the state economy and state coffers.

READ MOREMississippi leaving more than $1 billion per year on table by rejecting Medicaid expansion

Democrats continually pressed Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, who handled the budget bill Wednesday and chairs the Medicaid Committee, about Republicans’ plan to address the health care crisis in the state. They said the crisis included the poor health condition of many of the state citizens, who lack insurance, and the financial crunch facing many hospitals.

Hood repeatedly said the leadership is continuing to work on a possible solution.

“We are going to do what we can to help Mississippi hospitals,” Hood said, indicating that the leadership might propose state grants for hospitals instead of pulling down federal funds through Medicaid expansion.

The legislative leadership is just beginning the process of passing a budget to fund state government for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1. The more than 100 budget bills being passed this week in both the House and Senate are nothing close to the final product that the membership will be asked to vote on during the final days of the session.

Democrats said their votes on Wednesday were opportunities for rank-and-file House members to provide input in the budgeting process. But the members of the House majority rejected those pleas, opting to not buck their leaders, who ultimately will make the final decision just before the session ends in late March.

READ MORE‘What’s your plan, watch Rome burn?’: Politicians continue to reject solution to growing hospital crisis

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

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

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.

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Mississippi Today

Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

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.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

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.

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