Mississippi Today
Mississippi Medicaid: Gender-affirming care for kids is not ‘safe and effective’
Mississippi Medicaid: Gender-affirming care for kids is not ‘safe and effective’
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid is the first state agency to take a public position on gender affirming care to transgender children, stating there is not enough medical literature to support that it is a “safe and effective treatment for gender dysphoria.”

In a letter to managed care companies that contract with Medicaid, Executive Director Drew Snyder wrote that the agency concurs with its counterpart in Florida that there is not enough evidence that “sex reassignment through medical intervention” is safe. Florida’s report was released in June of last year.
Snyder did not respond to a call and text to his personal cell phone Thursday afternoon. His letter was addressed to executives of Molina Healthcare of Mississippi, UnitedHealthCare Community & State MS and Magnolia Health Plan. Communications officials with the three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“As the care coordination organizations for the majority of children and adolescents enrolled in Mississippi Medicaid, your input is welcome on approaches to effectively address any health needs without posing risky side effects or irreversible changes,” he wrote.
It’s unclear if Snyder’s letter has any effect on what services are currently covered, or why he reached out to the managed care companies instead of providers of gender-affirming care. If the agency does opt to exclude this treatment, it would join a handful of states already doing so. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas all have Medicaid policies that specifically exclude transgender health coverage, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
The Feb. 15 letter first reported by the Magnolia Tribune comes as a bill is working its way through the Legislature that would ban this kind of treatment for trans minors in Mississippi. House Bill 1125 would prevent the state’s roughly 2,400 trans kids and their families from getting hormone therapy or puberty blockers in the state.
Snyder’s letter contradicts the advice and position of major medical associations in the U.S. on gender-affirming care. It is evidence-based, and not considered “experimental” by the majority of the medical community.
Also known as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures” (REAP) Act, the bill bans Mississippi doctors from performing gender-confirmation surgery or prescribing drugs such as puberty blockers or hormones to those under 18.
The bill would allow for the doctors’ licenses to be revoked and create a “civil claim of action” for them to be sued with a 30-year statute of limitations. It would prohibit insurers or Medicaid from reimbursing families for such procedures and would strip doctors who provide them of the state’s generous tort claims protections.
READ MORE: What to know about gender-affirming care in Mississippi
Gender-affirming care, or “sex reassignment” as Mississippi officials have called it, refers to a broad range of interventions, from medical treatment to psychological and social support, that aims to affirm an individual’s gender identity, especially when it is different from the one they were assigned at birth, according to the World Health Organization.
Decades of research support gender-affirming care as the proper treatment for gender dysphoria, the distress trans people can experience when their physical features do not match their gender identity.
Research has repeatedly shown that gender-affirming care significantly boosts the chances that trans kids will live to see adulthood. A study published last year in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association found that over the course of a year, gender-affirming care was associated with 60% reduced odds of moderate to severe depression and 73% less odds of suicidal thoughts.
Stacie Pace, the co-owner of Spectrum: The Other Clinic, said that the two main international medical organizations that write guidelines for gender-affirming care — the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society — cite hundreds of references and are easy to find on the internet.
“All it takes is just a quick Google, and all this research is right there in front of you,” she said.
There are three main forms of gender-affirming medical treatment: Puberty blockers, which are only for kids, hormone therapy and gender-confirmation surgery. In Mississippi, there is no clinic that performs any kind of gender-confirmation surgery on minors, according to in-state providers of gender-affirming care.
Puberty blockers are medications that pause puberty in kids. Research has shown the effects are reversible. While hormone therapy can cause some permanent effects, such as a deeper voice, it typically takes at least a year for this to occur, Pace said.
But Pace added that many other side effects of hormone therapy, like increased muscle mass or the development of breast tissue, will disappear over time if a patient ceases treatment.
“It will take about as long as it took for it to occur, but it will go away,” she said.
Alex Mills, a pharmacist who has worked with trans people, said he was confused by the letter. While a minority of his patients are on Medicaid, he hasn’t heard of Medicaid covering prescriptions for hormone therapy for trans adults since he started working in Jackson three years ago. If Medicaid covered prescriptions for his outspoken patients, Mills said they would tell him.
“I feel like they’re just kind of jumping on the bandwagon,” he said. “It’s an irrelevant comment, because they (Medicaid) haven’t been covering (hormone therapy), so I’m just confused why they’re even saying this. Just to say it?”
Mills said Medicaid has covered medical visits, but that he doesn’t know if it has covered puberty blockers, which can be pricey – up to $1,500 for a single shot that lasts a month. Hormone therapy is cheaper, so Mills recommends patients use GoodRx coupons to make their prescriptions more affordable.
At Spectrum, Pace said just one youth patient is currently on Medicaid. But of the clinic’s roughly 1,000 adult patients, about half are Medicaid beneficiaries.
The Division of Medicaid has not taken a stance on other issues being considered by the Legislature. One of those is extending postpartum care from 60 days to one year for new mothers, which Speaker of the House Philip Gunn said he has asked the agency to do.
When a committee tasked with advising Medicaid about health and medical care services voted unanimously in October to recommend that the Legislature extend postpartum coverage, the Division of Medicaid still did not take a stance.
The State Board of Medical Licensure, which would enforce the bill’s provision revoking providers’ licenses, has not responded to questions from Mississippi Today. The University of Mississippi Medical Center, which has provided gender-affirming care to trans kids at its LGBTQ-focused TEAM Clinic, said earlier this month that “we have no comment for now.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday
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.
“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.



“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.

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.




This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says
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.
Mississippi Today
Court to rule on DeSoto County Senate districts with special elections looming
A federal three-judge panel will rule in coming days on how political power in northwest Mississippi will be allocated in the state Senate and whether any incumbents in the DeSoto County area might have to campaign against each other in November special elections.
The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials last week to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state’s prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice.
The latest map proposed by the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners tweaked only four Senate districts in northwest Mississippi and does not pit any incumbent senators against each other.
The state’s proposal would keep the Senate districts currently held by Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando and Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, in majority-white districts.
But it makes Sen. David Parker’s district a slightly majority-Black district. Parker, a white Republican from Olive Branch, would run in a district with a 50.1% black voting-age population, according to court documents.
The proposal also maintains the district held by Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, as a majority-Black district, although it reduces the Black voting age population from 61% to 53%.
Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch comprise the State Board of Election Commissioners. Reeves and Watson voted to approve the plan. But Watson, according to meeting documents, expressed a wish that the state had more time to consider different proposals.
Fitch did not attend the meeting, but Deputy Attorney General Whitney Lipscomb attended in her place. Lipscomb voted against the map, although it is unclear why. Fitch’s office declined to comment on why she voted against the map because it involves pending litigation.
The reason for redrawing the districts is that the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters in the state sued Mississippi officials for drawing legislative districts in a way that dilutes Black voting power.
The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, are likely to object to the state’s newest proposal, and they have until April 29 to file an objection with the court
The plaintiffs have put forward two alternative proposals for the area in the event the judges rule against the state’s plans.
The first option would place McLendon and Blackwell in the same district, and the other would place McLendon and Jackson in the same district.
It is unclear when the panel of judges will issue a ruling on the state’s plan, but they will not issue a ruling until the plaintiffs file their remaining court documents next week.
While the November election is roughly six months away, changing legislative districts across counties and precincts is technical work, and local election officials need time to prepare for the races.
The judges have not yet ruled on the full elections calendar, but U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick said at a hearing earlier this month that the panel was committed have the elections in November.
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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