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Some worry thousands of Mississippi children will lose health coverage as public health emergency ends

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Some worry thousands of Mississippi children will lose health coverage as public health emergency ends

by Sara DiNatale, Mississippi Today
March 14, 2023

In just over two weeks, the state’s Division of Medicaid will begin the daunting process of determining whether hundreds of thousands of low-income Mississippians are still eligible for health coverage for the first time in three years.

As a result, Mississippians, adults and children, who have had coverage as the result of a federal pandemic-era policy of continuous enrollment could lose health insurance as soon as July, according to the division.

Mississippi’s Medicaid division will begin examining its roughly 890,000 recipients to determine their eligibility starting April 1. But with a staff vacancy rate of 12% and an onslaught of work, national health care experts and local advocates are worried about eligible children, especially, falling through bureaucratic cracks and losing coverage.

Those who work with Medicaid recipients have a litany of concerns: from the division’s ability to effectively communicate with families known to frequently move to the low rate of automatic electronic renewals the state has done in the past.

“It’s nothing new that parents, once they get over a very low income level, they have no coverage because the state hasn’t expanded Medicaid,” said Joan Alker, the executive director and researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. “What is new is we might see thousands of eligible children lose coverage during this process.”

The stakes are high.

Mississippi children in low-income families make up more than half of the state’s overall Medicaid recipients. Some have coverage through Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. During continuous coverage, Medicaid rolls in Mississippi have increased by more than 130,000 people – 80,000 of which are children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said as many as 15 million people nationwide could lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage. About 6.8 million people could be disenrolled even though they are still eligible, the department estimates, because of enrollees struggling to navigate the renewal processes, states unable to successfully contact enrollees or other administrative hurdles.

On its end, the state’s Medicaid division said it’s hired 22 new workers in the past week and has 100 contractors to help manage caseloads. The biggest push from the office so far has been asking recipients to ensure their contact information and mailing addresses are up-to-date.

“To raise awareness about redeterminations and the importance for members to update their contact information, (Mississippi Division of Medicaid) launched a Stay Covered campaign in January and invited community partners to sign up to be Coverage Champions,” spokesman Matt Westfield said in a statement. “Our Coverage Champions partners include a diverse mix of health centers and advocacy groups.”

Posts are all over Facebook. Flyers have been shared both online and in-person with scannable codes that link an online form.

Medicaid coverage is determined by income, but the threshold for children to still qualify in Mississippi is higher than that of their parents and other adults.

Joy Hogge, the director of Families of Allies, a statewide nonprofit that supports children with health challenges, said her office is going to start asking every family who contacts them if they’re aware of the upcoming renewal process.

“We haven’t had families ask questions (on their own),” Hogge said. “So, I don’t know if it’s not reaching them. I’m not sure of what the awareness level is from families being affected.”

So far, Mississippi hasn’t published a detailed unwinding plan. The one document the division was required to upload for the federal government includes a long checklist of measures where the agency could check “already adopted” or “planning or considering to adopt.”

But details of where the state was in the process of adding improvements wasn’t included. That makes it hard to decipher exactly what’s going on, said Garrett Hall, a policy analysis at health advocacy organization Families USA.

Westfield said the state does plan to post a more detailed unwinding plan online once it’s ready. This is something states such as California and Arizona have already done.

Mississippians, for example, don’t have online accounts to easily login into Medicaid – something 48 other states have, according to KFF. In a tweet earlier this month, Mississippi Division of Medicaid Director Drew Snyder said it was something his office was testing and planned to deploy this year.

Mississippi is taking the full 12 months allowed by the federal government to work through its redetermination process. Arkansas, for example, is planning to do the same process in only six months – something that raises major red flags for health care advocates.

While Hall is glad Mississippi won’t rush through the process in half the time, he does point out that Mississippi doesn’t have a high percentage of “ex parte,” or automatic, renewals. The division told Mississippi Today its automatic renewal rate was 24% before the pandemic – though that’s a rate they expect to go up over the next year.

Hall said states should hit a 50% ex parte rate at minimum.

Using state databases – like of families who qualify for food assistance or individuals receiving unemployment – Medicaid divisions can automatically enroll people they know are still eligible. Hall said it’s the most seamless way to ensure people retain coverage who still qualify.

“No one who is still eligible for coverage should lose it because they are subjected to a confusing and cumbersome renewal process,” Hall said. “Looking at Mississippi’s unwinding plan, they have some steps in the right direction but they need to follow through on some of those further steps.”

Alker worries about whether notices will even reach families. Low-income families are often mobile, and may not know they need to update their address. If the letter does find them, she wonders what the language will be like and if it could be misleading. Alker pointed to a prior instance where Mississippi’s Division of Medicaid shifted enrollees’ coverage without making a public announcement.

“Is it going to be clear that even if a parent loses coverage, their child may still be eligible?” Alker said. “Is there going to be adequate support at the call center to work through the renewal process or questions? Sometimes there are just glitches and delays due to short staffing. All sorts of things can go wrong.”

Westfield said when the Mississippi division begins its redetermination process, it will first focus on auto-renewing benefits using state data systems for electronic verification. If someone can’t be approved this way, they will be mailed a renewal form which they will have 30 days to return to the office.

If the Medicaid division determines someone no longer qualified they will receive a notice by mail explaining the decision and how to file an appeal, according to Wesftield. Their information will also be sent to the Health Insurance Marketplace, and they will be notified about their options through the Affordable Care Act.

Michael Minor, the executive director of Oak Hill Regional Community Development Corporation, has been working closely with families who qualify for Medicaid or CHIP since 2019. The initiative is called “Healthy Kids MS,” and it aims to keep kids covered and up-to-date on doctor’s visits.

“We see ourselves as being that unseen, invisible hand there that’s helping folks to work with the system,” Minor said. “It’s a matter of meeting folks where they are.”

That means churches, schools, and doctors offices. Volunteers will even drive forms to Medicaid offices on behalf of families with transportation struggles. Hogge and Minor both said their workers will sit on a phone call to Medicaid with a recipient if that’s the support families need.
Minor and his team of Medicaid navigators are bracing for the surge of questions – but they’re not worried.

‘We’re set up for this,” he said. “And we’re just doing what we normally do.”

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

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Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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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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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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22 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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