Mississippi Today
Texts: Lawmakers maneuver Mississippi’s Medicaid rolls
Texts: Lawmakers maneuver Mississippi’s Medicaid rolls
Wading through the complexities of Medicaid eligibility in order to secure health insurance for yourself or your family member in Mississippi can be a nightmare. It might even feel impossible.
But if you happen to go to church with a state legislator, you may be in luck.
“Please have someone check on the Medicaid app on (patient),” Rep. Jody Steverson, R-Ripley, wrote to Mississippi Division of Medicaid Director Drew Snyder last summer. “(Patient) has cerebral palsy and I attend church with his grandparents.”
Snyder forwarded the message to Tracy Buchanan, Medicaid’s director of long term services and supports. “Will do,” she responded.

In roughly the last year, Snyder asked Buchanan to follow up on requests from at least eight lawmakers, all white Republican men, according to text messages obtained by Mississippi Today.*
“Being a lawmaker, you can go to the head of the department and start there,” said Rep. Price Wallace, R-Mendenhall, who called and texted Snyder about a Medicaid application in January. “When you can call the top brass and let them know, then the problem seems to get worked out a lot quicker than starting at the bottom and trying to go up the ladder.”
In the texts, the politicians ask for special attention, sometimes explaining the heartbreaking circumstances and the roadblocks that specific beneficiaries faced in attempting to access Medicaid – the public health insurance program reserved for the poorest and most medically fragile citizens.
Medicaid is one of the largest arms of the nation’s social safety net, a maze of taxpayer-funded assistance that ideally exists to level the playing field for needy Americans, if not just simply help them survive.
Mississippi lawmakers – as well as Gov. Tate Reeves, who reappointed Snyder from the previous Gov. Phil Bryant administration – have resisted expanding Medicaid to cover the poor and uninsured. They’ve opted instead for punitive policies that target beneficiaries for suspected fraud, such as the HOPE Act, which they refused to repeal even after recent pleas from the Reeves-appointed welfare director.
Yet they can tap into the programs for those they personally deem worthy.
“Thank you for again helping me,” House Appropriations Chairman Rep. John Read, R-Gautier, texted Snyder in early 2022. “The family at this time can not express how great they feel.”
Looking at it one way, the requests demonstrate the lawmaker’s accessibility, their resourcefulness, tangible constituent representation.
But the texts also reflect the potential influence lawmakers have over the agency, not just in relation to its state budget, but in determining who successfully ends up on the Medicaid rolls in the poorest state in the nation.
“Legislators often reach out to the Division with questions or concerns raised by their constituents, and we take those questions and concerns seriously,” Medicaid said in a written response to Mississippi Today. “However, we strongly disagree with your assertion that these communications demonstrate a pattern of legislative influence on who gets served and how quickly.”
While some of Snyder’s inquiries to Buchanan over the last year came from other connected people, the majority originated from lawmakers. Snyder, who came to Medicaid after working as a deputy chief of staff and policy advisor in Bryant’s office, has an incentive to make lawmakers happy, since they determine his state budget.
“I think it does help, you know, when a lawmaker makes the phone call. It puts a little bit hotter fire under their bottom,” Wallace said. “… When I talked back with Drew, he was like, ‘Yeah, we got everything handled.’ So it was taken care of.”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Wallace said. “In all honesty, that’s why I ran for this job, to help my constituents. That’s where I get the most satisfaction of being a representative for the state of Mississippi District 77 is when one of my constituents calls me with a problem and I’m able to help them resolve that problem.”
Mississippi Today recently published a story about the struggles that a couple in north Mississippi have had navigating a special Medicaid program, called the Medicaid IDD waiver, for their 23-year-old son, who has severe autism.
The couple, Natalie and Jamie Gunnells, sought help from their local lawmaker Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, which they had supported in his past campaigns. McMahan set up a meeting for the Gunnells with officials from Medicaid, which eventually acquiesced, adopting a temporary policy that allowed Natalie Gunnells to get paid for care for her son.

“I know how to work the system for the people I represent,” McMahan told Mississippi Today. “… I have figured out a way to be very successful in helping my constituents get the medical services or the disability services their family needs. And I’m not gonna reveal how I’ve learned it. I’ve learned the system.”
When McMahan found out the Gunnells had expressed support for his upcoming political opponent, a conservative opposed to Medicaid enhancements, the senator called them out, saying it was a “slap in the face” considering all the hours he spent lobbying on their behalf.
Asked if he thinks about helping people access public assistance as a way to secure votes, McMahan said, “That never crosses my mind. There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing.”
(Medicaid later chose not to permanently adopt the policy).
Rep. John Hines, D-Greenwood, said when he’s reached out to Medicaid about concerns, current agency leadership has always been responsive to him, explaining why one of his constituents may or may not be eligible for the assistance. They say they want to help, Hines said, but that they have to stay within strict eligibility guidelines.
To Hines, this scenario illuminates a larger point: There wouldn’t be such a need for lawmaker intervention on specific beneficiary cases if those lawmakers put in place equitable policies for all.

“I think the issue in the whole Medicaid system is the fact that we did not expand,” Hines said. “And a lot of these conversations, a lot of these situations that are happening here in this state, if we would just expand it, we would not be having. There wouldn’t even be a need for you to do the story that you’re doing.”
Hines continued: “The government’s inability to want to expand Medicaid forces representatives and directors of agencies to have to make uncomfortable decisions and conversations around the safety and the health of constituents, which would automatically be eligible for Medicaid if we would expand it, and they wouldn’t have to be making all these special phone calls.”
Below are the texts between Snyder and Buchanan referencing lawmaker interactions with Steverson, Read, Wallace, Rep. Tracy Arnold, R-Boonville, Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, Rep. Bubba Carpenter, R-Burnsville, Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, and former House Ways and Means Chair Jeff Smith, R-Columbus. Most of them either declined to comment or did not return texts or calls to Mississippi Today.
*The text messages referenced in this story were sent between Snyder and Buchanan from Dec. 1, 2021, to February 16, 2023. They do not reflect the entirety of communication between state lawmakers and Snyder, just the correspondence he forwarded to Buchanan that was then shared with Mississippi Today to fulfill its records request.










This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1909, Matthew Henson reached the North Pole
April 6, 1909

Matthew Henson reached the North Pole, planting the American flag. Traveling with the Admiral Peary Expedition, Henson reportedly reached the North Pole almost 45 minutes before Peary and the rest of the men.
“As I stood there on top of the world and I thought of the hundreds of men who had lost their lives in the effort to reach it, I felt profoundly grateful that I had the honor of representing my race,” he said.
While some would later dispute whether the expedition had actually reached the North Pole, Henson’s journey seems no less amazing.
Born in Maryland to sharecropping parents who survived attacks by the KKK, he grew up working, becoming a cabin boy and sailing around the world.
After returning, he became a salesman at a clothing store in Washington, D.C., where he waited on a customer named Robert Peary. Pearywas so impressed with Henson and his tales of the sea that he hired him as his personal valet.
Henson joined Peary on a trip to Nicaragua. Impressed with Henson’s seamanship, Peary made Henson his “first man” on the expeditions that followed to the Arctic. When the expedition returned, Peary drew praise from the world while Henson’s contributions were ignored.
Over time, his work came to be recognized. In 1937, he became the first African-American life member of The Explorers Club. Seven years later, he received the Peary Polar Expedition Medal and was received at the White House by President Truman and later President Eisenhower.
“There can be no vision to the (person) the horizon of whose vision is limited by the bounds of self,” he said. “But the great things of the world, the great accomplishments of the world, have been achieved by (people with) … high ideals and … great visions. The path is not easy, the climb is rugged and hard, but the glory at the end is worthwhile.”
Henson died in 1955, and his body was re-interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The U.S. Postal Service featured him on a stamp, and the U.S. Navy named a Pathfinder class ship after him. In 2000, the National Geographic Society awarded him the Hubbard Medal.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
A win for press freedom: Judge dismisses Gov. Phil Bryant’s lawsuit against Mississippi Today
Madison County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Mills dismissed former Gov. Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today on Friday, ending a nearly two-year case that became a beacon in the fight for American press freedom.
For the past 22 months, we’ve vigorously defended our Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting and our characterizations of Bryant’s role in the Mississippi welfare scandal. We are grateful today that the court, after careful deliberation, dismissed the case.
The reporting speaks for itself. The truth speaks for itself.
This judgment is so much more than vindication for Mississippi Today — it’s a monumental victory for every single Mississippian. Journalism is a public good that all of us deserve and need. Too seldom does our state’s power structure offer taxpayers true government accountability, and Mississippians routinely learn about the actions of their public officials only because of journalism like ours. This reality is precisely why we launched our newsroom nine years ago, and it’s why we devoted so much energy and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending ourselves against this lawsuit. It was an existential threat to our organization that took time and resources away from our primary responsibilities — which is often the goal of these kinds of legal actions. But our fight was never just about us; it was about preserving the public’s sacred, constitutional right to critical information that journalists provide, just as our nation’s Founding Fathers intended.
Mississippi Today remains as committed as ever to deep investigative journalism and working to provide government accountability. We will never be afraid to reveal the actions of powerful leaders, even in the face of intimidation or the threat of litigation. And we will always stand up for Mississippians who deserve to know the truth, and our journalists will continue working to catalyze justice for people in this state who are otherwise cheated, overlooked, or ignored.
We appreciate your support, and we are honored to serve you with the high quality, public service journalism you’ve come to expect from Mississippi Today.
READ MORE: Judge Bradley Mills’ order dismissing the case
READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s brief in support of motion to dismiss
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Meet Willye B. White: A Mississippian we should all celebrate
In an interview years and years ago, the late Willye B. White told me in her warm, soothing Delta voice, “A dream without a plan is just a wish. As a young girl, I had a plan.”
She most definitely did have a plan. And she executed said plan, as we shall see.
And I know what many readers are thinking: “Who the heck was Willye B. White?” That, or: “Willye B. White, where have I heard that name before?”
Well, you might have driven an eight-mile, flat-as-a-pancake stretch of U.S. 49E, between Sidon and Greenwood, and seen the marker that says: “Willye B. White Memorial Highway.” Or you might have visited the Olympic Room at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and seen where White was a five-time participant and two-time medalist in the Summer Olympics as a jumper and a sprinter.
If you don’t know who Willye B. White was, you should. Every Mississippian should. So pour yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea, follow along and prepare to be inspired.
Willye B. White was born on the last day of 1939 in Money, near Greenwood, and was raised by grandparents. As a child, she picked cotton to help feed her family. When she wasn’t picking cotton, she was running, really fast, and jumping, really high and really long distances.
She began competing in high school track and field meets at the age of 10. At age 11, she scored enough points in a high school meet to win the competition all by herself. At age 16, in 1956, she competed in the Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia.
Her plan then was simple. The Olympics, on the other side of the world, would take place in November. “I didn’t know much about the Olympics, but I knew that if I made the team and I went to the Olympics, I wouldn’t have to pick cotton that year. I was all for that.”
Just imagine. You are 16 years old, a high school sophomore, a poor Black girl. You are from Money, Mississippi, and you walk into the stadium at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds to compete before a crowd of more than 100,000 strangers nearly 10,000 miles from your home.
She competed in the long jump. She won the silver medal to become the first-ever American to win a medal in that event. And then she came home to segregated Mississippi, to little or no fanfare. This was the year after Emmett Till, a year younger than White, was brutally murdered just a short distance from where she lived.
“I used to sit in those cotton fields and watch the trains go by,” she once told an interviewer. “I knew they were going to some place different, some place into the hills and out of those cotton fields.”
Her grandfather had fought in France in World War I. “He told me about all the places he saw,” White said. “I always wanted to travel and see the places he talked about.”
Travel, she did. In the late 1950s there were two colleges that offered scholarships to young, Black female track and field athletes. One was Tuskegee in Alabama, the other was Tennessee State in Nashville. White chose Tennessee State, she said, “because it was the farthest away from those cotton fields.”
She was getting started on a track and field career that would take her, by her own count, to 150 different countries across the globe. She was the best female long jumper in the U.S. for two decades. She competed in Olympics in Melbourne, Rome, Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich. She would compete on more than 30 U.S. teams in international events. In 1999, Sports Illustrated named her one of the top 100 female athletes of the 20th century.
Chicago became White’s home for most of adulthood. This was long before Olympic athletes were rich, making millions in endorsements and appearance fees. She needed a job, so she became a nurse. Later on, she became an public health administrator as well as a coach. She created the Willye B. White Foundation to help needy children with health and after school care.
In 1982, at age 42, she returned to Mississippi to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and was welcomed back to a reception at the Governor’s Mansion by Gov. William Winter, who introduced her during induction ceremonies. Twenty-six years after she won the silver medal at Melbourne, she called being hosted and celebrated by the governor of her home state “the zenith of her career.”
Willye B. White died of pancreatic cancer in a Chicago hospital in 2007. While working on an obituary/column about her, I talked to the late, great Ralph Boston, the three-time Olympic long jump medalist from Laurel. They were Tennessee State and U.S. Olympic teammates. They shared a healthy respect from one another, and Boston clearly enjoyed talking about White.
At one point, Ralph asked me, “Did you know Willye B. had an even more famous high school classmate.”
No, I said, I did not.
“Ever heard of Morgan Freeman?” Ralph said, laughing.
Of course.
“I was with Morgan one time and I asked him if he ever ran track,” Ralph said, already chuckling about what would come next.
“Morgan said he did not run track in high school because he knew if he ran, he’d have to run against Willye B. White, and Morgan said he didn’t want to lose to a girl.”
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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