Mississippi Today
Is Mississippi Medicaid stalling on timely health care for Mississippi moms?
After the head of Mississippi Medicaid said his agency needed more time to research a policy that would make it easier for poor moms to receive timely health care, a medical advisory board said it would meet in January to decide whether to recommend that the Legislature establish it.
However, with just a few days left this month, the committee has not met. And documents show the board and agency have been aware of the policy, presumptive eligibility for pregnant women, for months if not years.
The state Medicaid director, Drew Snyder, and CEO of Memorial Health System, Kent Nicaud, thwarted efforts at the Mississippi Medical Care Advisory Committee’s December meeting to make a decision on recommending pregnancy presumptive eligibility.
Pregnancy presumptive eligibility allows people to receive health care when they’re pregnant, even if they’re not on Medicaid because it’s presumed that they qualify. It makes receiving timely health care easier, which is an important part of safe pregnancies and deliveries. In Mississippi, most births are covered by Medicaid.
According to Mississippi Medicaid, a person can qualify by attesting they are pregnant, but many doctors and expecting people are under the impression a pregnancy test from a health care provider is required to be covered. Some doctors won’t see patients without health insurance, and for those people who can get appointments with Medicaid coverage, they have to pay out-of-pocket until their Medicaid application is approved.
The Mississippi Medical Care Advisory Committee, composed of 11 people appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House, advises the Division of Medicaid.
Though lawmakers say they will move forward on pregnancy presumptive eligibility regardless of any bureaucratic impasse, the committee is influential. Last year, its recommendation to the Legislature to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage was instrumental in its passage.
At the December meeting, two doctors presented research showing that presumptive eligibility for pregnant women would positively impact perinatal health in Mississippi.
The latest maternal mortality report shows Mississippi is still one of the most dangerous places in the country to give birth, and one of just three states that has neither expanded Medicaid nor established presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. Research shows that preterm births are less likely for low-income people when they live in a state with presumptive eligibility and expanded Medicaid.
However, Snyder, a lawyer reappointed to his position by Gov. Tate Reeves, suggested at the meeting that his agency needed more time to research the policy. Nicaud, one of Reeves’ top donors, then pushed for a January meeting to discuss presumptive eligibility.
“Twenty minutes of discussion from two presenters is not enough on this complex issue,” Snyder said at the meeting.
But documents show that the Division of Medicaid has had ample time to research presumptive eligibility for pregnant women.
Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, emailed officials from the board and Medicaid on August 31, 2023, a records request revealed.
“I have come to believe presumptive eligibility would be very beneficial for health outcomes for both expectant mothers and babies in our State,” she wrote. “I am contacting you today to request the Medical Advisory Board for Medicaid offer an opinion on this issue and to ask you to add this to your agenda in a coming meeting. Your opinion would be very helpful as we begin preparations for the 2024 legislative session.”
The board has been hearing about this measure long before McGee’s August email.
Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician from Hattiesburg and one of the presenting doctors at the December meeting, told committee members about pregnancy presumptive eligibility’s benefits at a meeting in 2022, and again in 2023.
And the approval of presumptive eligibility for pregnant women is recommended in a report released by the Mississippi State Department of Health in January 2023.
“State leaders can facilitate early initiation in prenatal care by implementing presumed eligibility for Medicaid or expanding Medicaid such that people enter pregnancy with necessary insurance and primary care,” the 2017-2019 Maternity Mortality Report reads.
It’s not clear whether Medicaid has the power to establish presumptive eligibility on its own or the policy needs legislative action. Snyder has said previously that the Division of Medicaid wouldn’t utilize pregnancy presumptive eligibility unless directed to by the Legislature.
The board’s next meeting has not been scheduled — the current board members’ terms expired at the beginning of the year.
“Once new appointments are made, the Division of Medicaid will facilitate the scheduling of the next meeting,” said Matt Westerfield, spokesperson for the Division. It’s not clear when new committee members will be selected.
Regardless of the committee’s actions, McGee, who was recently named chair of the House Medicaid committee, has once again introduced legislation this session to establish pregnancy presumptive eligibility.
“I believe we have strong support for this measure in the Mississippi House and look forward to taking it up in the weeks to come,” she said.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
Sept. 7, 1954
In compliance with the recent Brown v. Board of Education decision, schools in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., were desegregated. Baltimore was one of the first school systems to desegregate below the Mason-Dixon line.
A month after a dozen Black students began attending what had been an all-white school, demonstrations took place, one of them turning violent when 800 whites attacked four Black students. White parents began pulling their children out of the schools, and by 1960, the district was majority Black.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
USM admin say program cuts are necessary to afford future pay raises for faculty, staff
The University of Southern Mississippi will look at cutting under-enrolled programs even though administrators say it is not facing a financial crisis.
The budget is balanced, despite a four-year period of decreasing revenue and increasing costs, and USM has adequate cash reserves.
The move is necessary, top leaders said at last month’s convocation, so the research institution in Hattiesburg can survive the increasingly competitive future facing higher education in Mississippi by becoming a “unicorn” among its peers, offering programs students want and the state needs.
“Colleagues, this is plain and simply the reality of where we are in higher education today, and progressive institutions all across the landscape are doing the same,” President Joe Paul told faculty on Aug. 19, according to a video the university has since taken off YouTube after faculty and staff had a chance to watch it. “We can no longer simply kick the can down the road and hope things can get better. We will instead take charge of our future and crease a uniquely positioned, distinctive public research universty of which we can all be proud and feel ownership.”
Paul added that cuts are also one of the few ways the university can afford more pay raises for its faculty and staff, some of whom will receive merit raises this fall for the first time in eight years. (After protesting, minimum wage workers at USM won a pay raise two years ago.)
“My goal for us is not to go another eight years before offering raises again, that accomplishes little,” Paul said. “If we are to develop a true salary increase plan that is competitive and sustainable, we simply must continue to do two things with discipline and consistency. One, we must all continue to grow the enrollment through recruitment and retention … while also continuing to find efficiencies and decrease spending as an institution.”
USM was able to afford the raises, which total about $4.4 million, through what Paul described as two years of systematic reductions in administrative spending. The university cut 22 unfilled and six filled positions at its Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses.
An increase in state appropriations also helped support the raise, but USM isn’t able to say how much because “the raises come from the university’s operating budget and the amount is not broken down by revenue source,” Nicole Ruhnke, a spokesperson, wrote in an email.
The raises addressed a significant concern for faculty at USM who held a protest for fair pay earlier this year.
Low salaries are an issue across Mississippi’s higher education system, which has struggled to attract and retain talented faculty. In recent years, the governing board of Mississippi’s eight universities has repeatedly heard how Mississippi’s faculty and staff are paid well below the average salary of other Southern states.
In an effort to fix that, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees asked the Legislature to provide $53 million in funding this year so that each university could afford a 6.4% raise.
IHL’s spokesperson John Sewell wrote in an email that the system ultimately received $27 million in unrestricted new funding, not enough for 6.4% increase.
That funding also needed to cover other inflationary costs facing the institutions, like PERS and health insurance, Sewell wrote.
Therefore, IHL left the final decision on raises up to the institutions, so Sewell could not say how much each university spent. Plus, the system’s final appropriation bill, which IHL negotiates on behalf of the eight institutions, did not include specific language regarding raises.
“IHL did not prescribe a fixed amount of new funding to be dedicated to raises as the individual institutions needed the flexibility to balance the increased costs for PERS and health insurance along with other inflationary costs before considering the amount for possible raises,” Sewell wrote.
Those costs are also driving USM administrators’ review of under-enrolled programs, which comprise a minority of USM’s programs.
Lance Nail, the provost, is leading that effort. In response to questions from Mississippi Today, Nail and Paul did not participate in an interview but provided statements.
Nail wrote that details about the program review will be worked out in the coming weeks in consultation with faculty, staff and administration.
“We will look at each under-enrolled academic program individually in collaboration with the deans, school directors and faculty, and determine what has led to low enrollment, student and market demand, as well as other contributions the program provides within the academy.” Nail noted. “These include the program’s contributions to the general education core, pre-major requirements, research and service.”
Last fall, USM deleted three degrees after IHL’s academic productivity review, which is triggered when a program is deemed to have too few graduates in a three-year period. Those degrees were a bachelors in international studies, and doctoral degrees in music education and criminal justice.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Richard Lake joins Mississippi Today as audience engagement specialist
Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Richard Lake has joined the Mississippi Today team as Audience Engagement Specialist.
In this role, Lake will work directly with journalists, editors and readers to ensure Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism reaches every corner of the state and beyond.
“Richard has developed into a respected member of the journalism community here in Mississippi,” said managing editor Michael Guidry. “He brings such an invaluable variety of skills to our newsroom that will help us further enhance how we engage with our members and growing audience.”
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Lake graduated from Mississippi State University in 2022, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in political science. Richard comes to Mississippi Today after over two years as WJTV Channel 12 News‘ Senior Political Correspondent. A former Mississippi Today intern, Lake previously worked on the audience team. He also completed an internship with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, working as a production assistant.
While at WJTV, Lake was named a finalist for TV Rookie of the Year at the 2023 Mississippi Association of Broadcasters Awards. Lake was also a part of WJTV’s award winning reporting on Mississippi’s 2023 gubernatorial election.
“Finding creative ways to provide our audience with the journalism they expect and deserve is more important now than ever,” said Lake. “I’m excited to apply innovative strategies and work alongside this incredible team in furthering the impact of our reporting.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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