Mississippi might be warming to limited Medicaid expansion

Jan. 16--It may not be springtime for Medicaid in Mississippi, but there are some signs of a thaw.

Some Mississippi Republican leaders are cautiously considering a limited expansion of Medicaid, including the current governor and one of the Republican candidates for governor. A Mississippi public opinion poll found more than 60 percent were in favor of expansion.

On Friday, CATCH Kids hosted forum presented by the Mississippi Health Advocacy Center to help local non-profit groups advocate for Medicaid. In addition to helping non-profit groups navigate laws about advocating and lobbying, the forum sought to arm advocates with facts about who Mississippi Medicaid helps and how it impacts hospitals and health care providers.

"Medicaid is difficult to wrap your arms around," and the public doesn't have a good understanding about who the program helps, said health care attorney Dinetia Newman, who attended the forum.

Currently Medicaid in Mississippi covers children, pregnant women, the disabled and seniors who need long term care who fall under specific income limits based on the federal poverty level. Seniors and the disabled are only eligible if they fall well below the poverty level. Parents and caregivers of Medicaid recipients who are very poor with incomes below $6,000 a year are the only able-bodied adults under 65 who are eligible for Medicaid.

Mississippi is one of 14 states that did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Expansion could help cover uninsured adults who don't make enough to qualify for Obamacare subsidies.

Overwhelming support

The January 2019 Millsaps College/ Chism Strategies State of the State Survey found more than 60 percent of Mississippians supported expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to increase insurance coverage for low-income, uninsured citizens and to help rural and small-town hospitals stay afloat.

The survey was conducted in early January with 687 respondents and the results were weighted toward likely voter turnout for 2019. It asked questions about a range of issues facing the state including infrastructure repairs, public school funding, allowing rural electric co-ops to offer broadband internet and approval of state leaders.

Limited expansion?

On Monday, Mississippi Medicaid executive director Drew Snyder said his agency had looked into ways of expanding Medicaid during testimony before the state House appropriations subcommittee meeting.

"We have been looking at there are some mechanisms we hear from hospitals that (can reduce) the higher uninsured population. I think it is a fair conversation to have, what's out there to lower the number (of uninsured)," Snyder said.

Until recently, the mantle of Medicaid expansion in Mississippi had been taken up almost solely by Democrats. Jim Hood, considered the Democratic Party's front runner for governor in 2019, led the his October campaign announcement with a call for expansion.

In December, Mississippi Today had reported that Gov. Bryant, who has been a vocal opponent of the Affordable Care Act and even sued the federal government over its constitutionality, was quietly working with his staff to explore ways of bringing one of the law's central tenets, Medicaid expansion, to this state.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the governor told Mississippi Today Bryant was not planning to push the issue with the legislature this year.

"Gov. Bryant doesn't have Medicaid expansion on his legislative agenda, and he doesn't foresee that occurring this year," said Knox Graham, a spokesman for the governor.

Last week, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann told the Daily Journal that he would support a limited form of Medicaid expansion, tied to work requirements, that is similar to what states like Arkansas and Indiana have approved.

State Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, who is running for governor as a conservative to the right of current Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, has said publicly that he supports a limited form of expansion.

"What I do support and what we do have to take into serious consideration is looking at waivers in an innovative way of bringing health care affordable to the working class Mississippians that are left out right now," Foster said, announcing his bid for governor.

Rep. Tracy Arnold, R-Boone-ville, who initially asked Snyder about expansion in Monday's appropriations hearing, told Mississippi Today he was interested in expansion geared towards "the working poor."

"There might even be a cost savings to it for the state," Arnold said.

Key Republicans remain firmly opposed to Medicaid expansion. Mississippi Today reported Reeves said he would reject any form of Medicaid expansion in Mississippi during a Monday press club lunch.

"I will remain opposed to any call for Obamacare expansion, no matter what other name or what other form you want to call it," Reeves said. "I am opposed to Obamacare expansion in Mississippi because it is not in the best interest of Mississippi taxpayers."

The Daily Journal's Michaela Gibson Morris contributed to this story.

The Daily Journal's Michaela Gibson Morris contributed to this story.

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