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Mississippi Medicaid expansion bill moves forward in GOP-led House over governor’s opposition

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1 year ago

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The state’s Republican-led House is expected to vote on Mississippi Medicaid expansion as soon as Wednesday after a committee unanimously approved it Tuesday.

House Bill 1725, authored by Republican House Speaker Jason White and Medicaid Chairwoman Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, has bipartisan support in the House, even as the state’s Republican governor continues to oppose the policy.

The morning after Gov. Tate Reeves didn’t mention health care or Medicaid expansion once during his State of the State address, he posted on Twitter “Count me amongst those ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ who think Government should not run health care.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, McGee explained to committee members that Mississippi during the first two years of expansion would receive an extra $600 million in federal money for Medicaid. She said that amount would cover the state’s share of expansion for four years. After that, under the House plan, hospitals and managed care organizations would pay more taxes to cover the state’s 10% match, with federal funds covering 90% of expansion costs.

“You could almost look at it like the government is giving us a free pilot program, to run for four years,” McGee said during the committee meeting. McGee said hospitals and MCOs would start paying the increased tax in the first year and the state could bank that money, perhaps in a health fund.

The bill, which expands Medicaid eligibility to adults without dependents between the ages of 19 and 65, has a built-in repealer, meaning it would automatically end after four years if lawmakers chose not to renew it.

Currently, low-income, adult Mississippians fall into the “coverage gap,” which experts believe is a leading cause of Mississippi’s poor public health metrics – such as leading the nation in preventable deaths, infant and maternal mortality, and lowest life expectancy. Mississippi remains one of only 10 states not to expand Medicaid. Expansion would provide health care to about 200,000 to 250,000 Mississippians, experts said.

The bill would expand Medicaid income eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that would be an annual household income up to about $43,000.

The House bill has some strict limitations. It would not cover those who are offered health insurance from their employer — even if they couldn’t afford the sometimes very expensive deductibles — and would make those who drop coverage even from the Affordable Care Act exchange wait 12 months before being eligible.

“If it doesn’t work out, if we decide that our health outcomes have not improved, if it costs too much for the state, if for any reason we do not believe that it is doing the things that we want it to do, the program will simply repeal in 2029,” McGee said.

The bill passed committee the day after it was assigned. But that’s after 10 years of debate and GOP leaders in the poorest, unhealthiest of states eschewing “Obamacare” Medicaid expansion. Reeves and his Republican predecessor, Phil Bryant, likened the state-federal health coverage to welfare and voiced opposition to taking more federal tax dollars from it, even as Mississippi remains one of the most federal funding reliant states in the nation.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Republican-led Senate are moving at their own pace.

McGee and Blackwell say the House and Senate will be working together, but they haven’t met yet. Their expansion bills are quite different – and coming to an agreement would involve heavy concessions from one or both sides.

“They can rush it all they want on their side,” Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, said Tuesday. “We’ve got our own pace. So they can pass it today and send it over tomorrow. It’s going to sit in my committee until we get ours in.”

While both bills are expected to have a work requirement, the House bill’s work requirement is only a “best-case scenario.” The bill has a “Section 2” provision that states that if the waiver necessary for federal Medicaid authorities to allow a Mississippi work requirement is not granted by Sept. 30, 2024, Medicaid would still be fully expanded to people up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

But the Senate bill, which as of right now is only a skeletal bill bringing forth Medicaid code sections to start, would according to Blackwell be entirely contingent on the federal government approving a waiver for a work requirement.

During the Biden administration, Centers for Medicaid Services has rescinded work requirement waivers previously granted under the Trump administration, and has not approved new ones. It is unlikely the administration would grant Mississippi’s 1115 waiver – which Blackwell says is a must for him.

“If no work requirements, no expansion,” Blackwell said about the bill he calls “expansion light.”

McGee said she hopes the House doesn’t back down on its provision to expand Medicaid even if the Biden administration doesn’t grant the waiver.

“I think that Section 2 provides an opportunity for us to still get this across the finish line if for some reason CMS does not approve the work requirement,” McGee said. “I think that we still want to help working Mississippians find a way to have health insurance. I would really hope we would leave Section 2 in the bill as a backstop in case we cannot get the waiver done, we still have an opportunity to provide the program and not delay another year in making this happen.”

The Senate Medicaid Committee is still working on language and Blackwell said it “will have something next week,” after which he said Senate leaders will sit down with the House and “see where the differences lie.”

Blackwell, who said he didn’t necessarily expect to author an expansion bill this session, is still adamantly opposed to full Medicaid expansion — which he calls “socialized medicine” and “welfare” — without work requirements and a private insurance option.

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate, said he would also like to see a work requirement in any expansion bill, as well as a premiums payment plan.

“When I get a plan that covers working people,” Hosemann said, “I would like for them to make some contribution to their health care,” he said. “I think that’s important, I think that’s self dignity, you become part of the system when you’re paying some part of it.”

Blackwell has said he would not author a bill that allowed expansion without a work requirement and a premiums plan. At that point, he says, expansion becomes “palatable” — especially when thinking about the labor force participation rate.

“It’s becoming a bigger need when you take a look at the hospital situation which was really highlighted during COVID,” Blackwell said. “With what we’re doing from an economic development standpoint, bringing in these large development projects, we need to have a healthy workforce. So from that standpoint, I can tolerate it.”

Blackwell said he believes that with a work requirement, expansion would have the support it needs in the Senate to be veto-proof. That is, the Senate could muster a two-thirds vote to override a Reeves veto.

House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson III, said Tuesday morning at a press conference that Democrats are not in favor of a work requirement, as it would delay things and likely not be approved by federal authorities. But Johnson said House Democrats would accept a work requirement in a bill if it was the only way Medicaid expansion could pass. That was evident Tuesday as no Democrats offered amendments in committee and all voted to move the bill forward.

“The vast majority of people are already working or are not able to do so,” Johnson said. “Far fewer people just choose not to work than our Republican colleagues would have you believe.”

Johnson has also authored House Bill 38, which would create a commission to run Medicaid and take it out from under the governor. He said he knows it’s not likely to pass.

“People’s health care should not be politicized,” Johnson said. “If we had a commission running it 10 years ago, we would already have expansion … I hope it at least starts a conversation about taking the politics out of health care.”

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

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1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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7 hours ago

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April 26, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-26 07:00:00

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
April 26, 2025

April 26, 1964

Aaron Henry testifies before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention. 

The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.” 

In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity. 

In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election. 

The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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22 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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23 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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