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Gov. Tate Reeves, after months of inaction, has unveiled a plan he says will turn Mississippi’s health care crisis around. 

However, even some health care experts were stumped by how the Governor’s proposed reforms will work. 

The plan, which Reeves announced at a press conference Thursday while flanked by state health care leaders, is essentially a complex scheme to increase extra payments hospitals get for treating patients on Medicaid — and notably doesn’t include Medicaid expansion.

Some Mississippi leaders say Reeves’ ideas aren’t even that new. It’s not certain they’ll be approved, either.

The announcement comes less than two months before Election Day, and after his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Democrat Brandon Presley, has repeatedly stated his intention to expand Medicaid if elected and largely campaigned on the state’s hospital crisis.

Two things were clear at the conference: Reeves claims the changes would put a much-needed $700 million in hospitals’ pockets, and he does not plan to expand Medicaid.

Everything else, however, was not as easy to understand.

How will Gov. Reeves’ plan work?

The plan relies on two major changes that bolster supplemental payments to hospitals for the care they provide to people with Medicaid. Supplemental payments are extra payments hospitals receive to offset low Medicaid reimbursement rates or uncompensated care, which is money hospitals lose caring for patients who are uninsured and can’t pay their hospital bill. Medicaid is a federal-state program that provides health coverage to millions of people in the U.S., including low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. The income requirement for people in Mississippi to qualify is extremely stringent. 

The first is a change to the Mississippi Hospital Access Program, which typically pays hospitals for the gap between payments for services rendered for Medicaid managed care patients (which are usually lower) and Medicare patients (which are usually slightly higher). Under the proposed changes, hospitals will instead be paid for the gap between Medicaid patients and people insured by commercial plans, which tend to reimburse at higher rates. 

The state Division of Medicaid was granted a similar change to the program in March for outpatient services, resulting in $40.2 million for hospitals. However, Medicaid officials had expected it to generate an additional $450 million. But because Mississippi’s average commercial rate is so low, the payout was much less. 

What’s not clear is how, in Reeves’ plan, the average commercial rate results in nearly triple what hospitals typically get for these payments — going from a total of $562 million to $1.522 billion. Reeves didn’t say at the press conference what average commercial rate was actually being used (whether a state, regional or national rate).

When asked what had changed since the spring regarding these rates, Medicaid Executive Director Drew Snyder did not directly answer the question. 

“I think the difference is, we got the right people in the room … sometimes it makes sense to get a second opinion,” he said before stepping back in line on stage.

The second initiative modifies the Upper Payment Limit Supplemental Payments, which are aimed at also increasing payments for hospitals that receive low payments from Medicaid. This program will yield an increase of an additional $137 million in fiscal year 2024, according to Reeves. 

State leaders did something similar earlier this year after the Mississippi Hospital Access Program projections came in much lower than originally expected, said Tim Moore, former leader of the state hospital association. It resulted in an extra one-time payment of $137 million.

The supplemental payment programs are meant to reduce disparities in insurance payments and the cost of caring for uninsured people. By changing them, the state is drawing down more federal money because of our state’s high Federal Medical Assistance Percentage match, which is the highest in the country at 77.27% because of our state’s high poverty rate. Hospitals have to put up more in “bed taxes” for the state portion, and then the federal government matches. 

In other words, if a Medicaid patient receives a service at a Mississippi hospital that costs $100, the hospital is reimbursed $77.27 from federal funds. The remaining $22.73 must be paid by the state – that $22.73 comes from the hospitals themselves in the form of a tax. 

Harold Miller, leader of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform described it this way: “When the state is paying for a Medicaid service, the state has to find the state share — that 23% — somewhere. They have to find that money, and ordinarily they would have to tax the taxpayers to do that.” Instead, Mississippi asks the hospitals for that money, he said. 

In short, hospitals will have to pay $178 million in taxes for Mississippi Hospital Access Program payments to go up by $960 million, Upper Payment Limit payments will yield $137 million and disproportionate share hospital payments — which make up the difference for hospitals that lose money on serving a significant population of Medicaid-insured and uninsured people — will decrease by $230 million because the other payments are bridging the gap. The net gain for hospitals will be $689 million total. 

Who will the plan help?

Experts agree this plan will keep hospitals open for longer. Even if it’s unclear how the expected payments will increase, it’s still a significant amount of money — money that hospitals have been asking for for a long time. However, critics say it’s not ensuring more people receive health care.  

According to federal data, Mississippi has the highest uninsured rate of people aged 18-64 in the country, as of September. About one in every six Mississippians is uninsured. 

Emergency rooms by law cannot turn down people, regardless of their insurance status, who come for care — but doctors’ offices can and so can pharmacies. That means people who are uninsured in Mississippi, one of the unhealthiest states in the nation, cannot receive preventative care or medications that they need. They generally must rely on the emergency room for their health care needs. 

“People typically need a lot more care than care in a hospital, and a lot of that care is preventive care… outpatient care,” said Adam Searing, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families whose work focuses on Medicaid. “If you get cancer and you need prescriptions and drugs and outpatient care from a team of specialists, this has nothing to do with that. So, the key differences, this is an issue about the finances of hospitals. 

“And Medicaid expansion is about financial security for families.”

How much money is it bringing to hospitals?

Reeves said a little over $689 million will go to the state’s hospitals under this plan. 

And although he said Thursday the money would benefit all hospitals, it appears larger hospitals will benefit most, even though most agree that small rural hospitals are the facilities feeling the strain of the health care crisis most acutely. 

Additionally, nearly half of the money — 45% or about $309 million — will go to hospitals that have left the state hospital association in recent months. In the spring, after the Mississippi Hospital Association’s PAC made a $250,000 donation to Presley, several hospitals left the organization.

Most of those hospitals’ leaders stood behind Reeves as he announced his plan Thursday.

Is this a new plan?

Reeves said at the press conference this plan has been in the works for four to five months. 

According to Tim Moore, former head of the state hospital association, and another state leader, that’s not true. 

A year ago, Moore learned of similar measures in Louisiana and brought the idea to state leaders. Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann recently told Mississippi Today that hospital payment initiatives were discussed by stakeholders last year, but the Division of Medicaid told his office that those changes weren’t possible.

Will it cost the taxpayers anything?

Reeves repeated at the conference that the changes would come at no cost to taxpayers, though he noted Snyder and his division employees are paid by state tax dollars. 

That’s mostly true — taxpayers will likely not feel the brunt of this big tax increase for hospitals,  according to one expert. Even if hospital charges increase, it should be eaten by the insurance companies and services for people who are uninsured will continue to go uncompensated and be claimed as charity care.

Is it final?

The plan is being submitted to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for approval. Snyder estimated at the conference that the state would likely hear from the federal government within two to three months. If it’s approved, it would be retroactively effective beginning July 1, 2023. 

It’s hard to say what the likelihood of approval is, though several other states have passed similar Medicaid reforms intended to draw down more federal dollars. 

One expert said it was unlikely that Mississippi state leaders announced the plan without expecting CMS approval, and historically, the agency has erred on the side of keeping hospitals open — even if it comes at the cost of forgoing expansion.

How is this different from Medicaid expansion?

Medicaid expansion has long been pointed to as a solution to the state’s worsening hospital crisis. Republican state leadership – Reeves most prominently – has staunchly opposed the policy adoption, despite support from a majority of Mississippians. 

At the press conference Thursday, Reeves repeatedly incorrectly referred to the program as “welfare,” and claimed the solution to the issue was putting more people in the workforce. He said if more people are added to Medicaid’s rolls, hospitals will keep losing money because Medicaid payments are so low. 

That’s better than losing money on people who are uninsured, said Adam Searing, the associate professor whose work focuses on Medicaid.

“These are two disconnected things,” he said. “Reimbursement rates for hospitals and expanding Medicaid are completely separate issues.”

While hospital leaders agree that these policy reforms will make a huge difference for many hospitals in the state, it still might not be enough to single handedly solve the crisis. In other states, such as Louisiana, similar policy reforms work in tandem with Medicaid expansion to create a holistically supported health care system. 

The way Moore sees it, the state is putting up $170 million for a $700 million net gain, when with expansion, it could put up $100 million for a $1 billion reward. 

States that have not expanded Medicaid have been offered a financial incentive to do so — an estimated $600 million in federal funds over two years. 

And, despite more hospitals that will probably be able to stay open as a result of these reforms, uninsured Mississippians still won’t have health care. That means they will have to continue to rely on emergency rooms for their medical care — the most expensive place to receive health care — and uncompensated care costs will continue. 

Searing said these reforms “improve the financial bottom line for some hospitals” and keep them open longer, but people are still going without health coverage. 

“You’re really not solving the problem,” he said. “You’re just putting a Band-Aid on one aspect of it.”

The post Experts say Gov. Tate Reeves’ plan will help hospitals, but not uninsured Mississippians appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this edition of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Stacey Trenteseaux, Executive Director of Opera Mississippi and a fantastic soprano opera singer.

Stacey talks about how she discovered her talent, her professional journey and tells about Opera Mississippi, the 9th longest continuously performing opera company in the United States.

The post Mississippi Stories: Stacey Trenteseaux appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Check out this week’s Marshall’s Mississippi newsletter and see a cartoon I drew about this very topic — during the Fordice/Musgrove years! Nothing is new under the sun.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Tate Plane appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Buoyed by a series of tweets from State Auditor Shad White belittling certain liberal arts degrees as “garbage,” “useless” and “indoctrination factories,” a recent report from his office calls for Mississippi to change how it funds higher education by stripping public money from programs that don’t support the state’s economy in favor of those that do.  

But in an interview Friday afternoon, two days after the report was released, White said he could not think of any lawmakers who had reached out to him about setting up a committee — the report’s central recommendation — to study revamping higher education funding in Mississippi. 

“I’m wracking my brain,” he said. “Not a ton (have reached out) because it’s just been out for two or three days.” 

White said he expects some inquiries but his guess is that hard copies of the report, which were prepped for a number of powerful elected officials — the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house and members of key legislative committees — haven’t arrived in the mail yet. 

The state auditor’s office does not have policy-making power, so for now, White is reliant on champion lawmakers to turn his recommendations into reality. 

“I’m trying to think if a legislator has texted or called me,” White said. “I don’t recall any right offhand that specifically mentioned the report.” 

The eight-page report is part of a yearlong effort by the auditor’s office to propose solutions to Mississippi’s intractable “brain drain,” the phenomenon in which college-educated people leave the state for better-paying opportunities elsewhere, in effect subsidizing the economy’s of nearby states. 

If Mississippi could retain just a few more graduates seeking highly paid jobs like engineering, the report said it would be a multimillion-dollar boon to the economy. 

“State appropriations should focus on the degree programs our state’s economy values most,” the report states. “Otherwise, taxpayers will face the repercussions of an inadequate workforce and a declining population.” 

The brain drain is an issue that has concerned lawmakers across the political spectrum and, in recent years, led to bipartisan proposals in Mississippi to incentivize graduates to go into crucial fields, like teaching and nursing, that are experiencing dire shortages. 

State agencies already have some policies that take this into account. The Institutions of Higher Learning, which oversees public universities in Mississippi, evaluates programs based on the state’s workforce needs. The state’s community colleges are trying to expand workforce development programs.  

What White is proposing goes further. Though he is not advocating for “abolishing” certain degrees, White said it’s not enough to simply let the market guide Mississippi college students to degrees that lead to higher-paying jobs — which, by and large, is what’s already happening. 

Rather, state government intervention is necessary to ensure taxpayers are seeing a return on investment in higher education, White said. 

“What I’m suggesting is that we take a hard look at how we’re spending money, and we add more money to those programs of study,” he said, “by … taking those dollars away from programs of study that aren’t economically beneficial to taxpayers.” 

Toren Ballard, an education policy analyst at Mississippi First, said it’s important to understand that taxpayers are not really footing the bill for the state’s universities. This year, state appropriations comprised just 21.5% of IHL’s operating budget. 

As state funding for higher education has plummeted since 2000, the cost of tuition has ballooned, putting the onus on Mississippians to pay for college, leading them to choose career paths that help them afford it, Ballard said. That’s one reason he thinks the report’s recommendation is largely unnecessary, though he hopes it could lead to more funding for higher education. 

“I think we’re not giving enough credit to individual student decision making here,” Ballard said. 

Al Rankins, the IHL commissioner, seemed to agree. In a statement, he said it would “appear more productive” to address Mississippi’s brain drain by creating more career opportunities. 

“University students are adults who choose their majors based on their interests and career aspirations,” he said. “After graduating some choose to pursue opportunities in other states for a myriad of reasons outside of the control of our universities.” 

White said that when he was choosing his undergraduate major — political science and economics from the University of Mississippi — that he wished he had access to data showing what he could expect to make when he graduates. 

“If I had to think it over again, I would rethink majoring in political science,” he said. 

So what degree programs does Mississippi’s economy value most, according to the auditor? The report begins with a graph that measures value as a trade-off between the median income a graduate can expect to make and the likelihood they will stay in Mississippi. 

In the top-left corner of the graph are higher-paid graduates who are more likely to leave, like business and engineering degrees. The top-right corner shows higher-paid graduates who were very likely to stay, including health professions and teachers. “All other degree types” are largely in the middle. 

Right now, the report says, the state funds all those degrees at the same amount, even though some degrees cost more to offer. 

Ballard noted the report did not consider graduates who go directly to law school or medical school, potentially lowering the median income of majors like sociology that the auditor denigrated online. 

“That’s why engineering degrees look particularly good here,” he said. 

White said the goal of the report — and his social media posts — was not to be comprehensive but to “initiate a conversation around this question.” 

But that doesn’t mean he’s taking back anything he wrote. 

“I’m defending it,” he said. “I’m telling you that we have to address these ideas in a way that is plain and clear, and if you shroud it in technocratic jargon, nobody will care.” 

The post Auditor’s proposal to defund some college majors catches fire online, but are lawmakers interested? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said he’ll have debates — plural — with his Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, but those haven’t been agreed to or scheduled yet as the clock ticks down to the Nov. 7 election.

“Our team is working with their team,” Reeves said at a press conference on Thursday. “I have been pretty busy … I am letting the campaign team work on that. But I am sure we are going to have debates. We have always had debates.”

READ MORE: Tate Reeves campaign says they’re working to schedule debate with Brandon Presley

Presley has accepted debate invitations from WJTV in Jackson and stations across the state owned by Gray Television. On the campaign stump, he has accused Reeves of “hiding out” and dodging debates.

“He doesn’t want to debate,” Presley said last week. “… He won’t even show up in his own TV commercials to talk to the people of Mississippi. So, I highly doubt he’s going to have the guts to stand toe-to-toe with me in a debate. His ads that he’s running are bald-faced lies, and he doesn’t have the guts to stand on a stage and look me in the face and say these lies and so he won’t agree to any debates.”

Reeves’ count on Thursday portends any debates would be spicy, should they come to fruition.

“I’ll be honest with you, I look forward to getting on the stage with that individual, who seems to have a really hard time telling the truth,” Reeves said. “It doesn’t matter the topic, he has a pretty easy time lying … I give him credit, he’s a really talented politician — that is to say he’s willing to lie about anything. He’s willing to stand in any room and say what he thinks they want to hear, and then he goes to the next room and says something exactly opposite based upon what he believes their views are.”

Conventional wisdom is debates would be most likely to help a challenger such as Presley, trailing the incumbent in campaign cash and name recognition.

Every Mississippi gubernatorial election since at least 1987, with the exception of one, has seen candidate debates, in most cases multiple debates. In 2015, incumbent Gov. Phil Bryant did not debate his Democratic opponent Robert Gray.

The post Gov. Tate Reeves says he’ll have ‘debates’ with challenger Brandon Presley appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As Gov. Tate Reeves announced his plan to save Mississippi’s rural hospitals, the state hospital association’s longtime leader prepared for his last day at the organization.

Tim Moore, who’s led the Mississippi Hospital Association for a decade, confirmed to Mississippi Today that the board fired him. His last day in his current position is today. He will stay on in another capacity to help with the transition until Nov. 30. 

“The board made a decision to execute a unilateral separation that’s in my employment contract,” Moore said when reached by phone. He declined to say when the decision was made but said he has known about it “for some time.” 

The Mississippi Hospital Association’s Board of Governors released a statement Friday at noon about Moore’s termination.

“The Board is grateful for Mr. Moore’s service over the past 10 years,” it reads. “The Board will immediately begin a search for a new President and CEO to lead the MHA. MHA will continue its mission of serving its members in the promotion of excellence in health through education, public information, advocacy, and service.”

The decision comes months after a handful of hospitals cut ties with the Mississippi Hospital Association following a $250,000 donation from the group’s political action committee to Reeves’ opponent in the gubernatorial race, Democrat Brandon Presley.

It was the PAC’s largest donation in history.

Moore, who led both the organization and its PAC, was criticized harshly in the weeks that followed the decision, though he maintained he was acting out the wishes of the association and its directors. 

The hospitals that left the organization included the state’s largest public hospital, the University of Mississippi Medical Center. UMMC’s leaders, Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and medical school dean, and Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, stood at the governor’s right hand as he announced his plan at a press conference Thursday, along with almost all of the leaders of the hospitals that previously left the association. 

The only health care leader on stage whose health care facility had not left the organization was Gregg Gibbes, CEO of South Central Regional Medical Center. 

On stage, Reeves said the health care leaders had approached him a few months ago after the “conversation had devolved around health care in Mississippi.”

Moore said the governor had a “huge impact” on the hospitals’ decisions to leave the organization. He did not offer any further details.  

“My concern is not for me — I’m fine,” he said. “But I’m afraid we’ve got a lot of hospitals that are not going to get the representation that they need because people will not stand up for them, and that’s going to be a problem. That’s going to affect health care in the state of Mississippi.

“I wish the best for the hospital association and the membership,” he added. 

The Mississippi Hospital Association, a member of the American Hospital Association, represents the interests of Mississippi’s hospitals and advocates for health care policy change, including Medicaid expansion. They also offer services to member hospitals, like a health information exchange program and educational courses. According to its website, the MHA comprises over 100 hospitals, health care systems and other providers, as well as over 50,000 employees.

None of those hospitals, as of today, has rejoined the organization. 

While a search is ongoing for a new leader, Kim Hoover, the chief operating officer, will maintain operations of the organization.

The post Longtime head of Mississippi Hospital Association let go by board appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Seeing The Light appeared first on Mississippi Today.

One year ago today, a former Mississippi state agency director stood before a state and federal judge and admitted to steering federal welfare funds to enrich the sons of a wealthy retired WWE wrestler.

The crimes represent just a sliver of a larger scandal inside a welfare agency that, under the direction of former Gov. Phil Bryant, systematically prioritized federal grant spending on pet projects over people.

“This is often what happens when you have a political party, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, so dominating a state that they think they’re invincible, that they can do anything,” said Doug Jones, a former U.S. senator and U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

Auditors accused John Davis, the now 55-year-old disgraced career government bureaucrat, of creating a culture of fear and secrecy at his agency between 2016 and 2019, frittering away at least $77 million in funds that were supposed to assist the state’s poorest residents.

But zooming out, records and text messages obtained by Mississippi Today show that Davis took his direction from the governor who appointed him. While the scandal took place, Bryant often met with Davis about the administration of the federally funded welfare grant and liked what the director was doing. Having agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, Davis is now a key witness in the case.

When the State Auditor’s Office and the Hinds County District Attorney first announced the arrests of Davis and five others in early 2020, they promised to work with their federal partners to fully investigate and pursue every person responsible for what they called the largest public embezzlement case in state history.

Since then, Mississippi Today has surfaced text messages showing that Bryant planned on entering into business with the Florida-based pharmaceutical company at the center of the initial indictments. The texts show that former NFL quarterback Brett Favre briefed Bryant about the funds that welfare officials channeled into the drug startup, Prevacus, and sought the then-governor’s help securing more grants for a new volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi.

Six people ensnared in the case, including Favre, have alleged Bryant approved or even directed some of the spending decisions in question — allegations Bryant has denied.

“We’re still looking through records and text messages as we continue to move up,” Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens told reporters after Davis’ plea hearing on Sept. 22, 2022, months after Mississippi Today exposed texts between Bryant and the welfare director. “We also continue to work with the federal authorities in Washington and in Mississippi. John Davis is critical because the ladder continues to move up.”

No one in any position above Davis has been charged. Since the 2020 state arrests, federal authorities have charged just two additional people, bringing the total number of state or federal criminal defendants to eight. Bryant and Favre are not facing criminal charges.

Bryant’s attorney Billy Quin said in a statement to Mississippi Today on Thursday that Bryant has not been interviewed by investigators on the case.

READ MORE: Allegations against former Gov. Phil Bryant from Brett Favre, Nancy New, Paul Lacoste, Austin Smith, Teddy DiBiase and Christi Webb. 

The seven who have pleaded guilty to crimes within the welfare scandal remain free under cooperation agreements with prosecutors. The government has suspended sentencing until it decides it no longer needs the defendants’ cooperation for potential cases against others. Federal authorities have been silent about the progress of their investigation or who else they may be looking at charging. 

“It’s not unusual for their sentencing to be postponed until the full extent of their cooperation is known, and that could be trial testimony,” said Jones, who has followed developments in the welfare case from his neighboring state. “So this could be a ways to go before we see anybody being sentenced.”

The September 2022 federal bill of information against Davis — a charging document to which he pleaded guilty after waiving a formal indictment — represented the first criminal charges the federal government filed within the welfare case, more than two years after the state arrests. Charges against Davis mostly deal with welfare money he pushed to professional wrestling brothers Brett and Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr.

Federal prosecutors struck plea deals with nonprofit founder Nancy New and her son Zach New months earlier in April of 2022, but those charges related to public education funds that the News fraudulently obtained for their private schools.

In March of this year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office secured guilty pleas from Brett DiBiase, who went to a luxury rehab facility on the welfare program’s dime, and Christi Webb, director of another nonprofit that contracted with the state. It also indicted Teddy DiBiase, who pleaded not guilty, in April. It has not publicly filed new charges since then.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Mississippi, which has been handling the case, has not had a permanent U.S. Attorney at its helm since early 2021 and has been waiting more than a year for the U.S. Senate to confirm President Joe Biden’s nomination Todd Gee. On Wednesday, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio again single-handedly blocked the Senate’s confirmations of all U.S. Department of Justice appointments, including Gee, because of the current criminal cases they are bringing against former President Donald Trump.

Separate from the criminal cases, 20 people, including Favre, are facing state civil charges. That lawsuit attempts to recoup $77 million from people or entities it says are liable for the misspending, which mostly occurred through two nonprofits running a program called Families First for Mississippi. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency that administers the welfare grant, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, has said that it will require the state to return any misspent funds out of its own budget, but it has been waiting to see what happens with ongoing criminal and civil proceedings before taking action.

U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said he has asked the federal agency for its assessment of the state of Mississippi’s fitness to manage these funds in the future, but he has not received a response.

“The fact that public funds were directed (away) from the original intent … is egregious, especially when the money is intended for vulnerable families to try to prepare them for a better life, and that money just does not get to them,” Thompson said.

Several people or entities named in the civil suit have pushed back on the prevailing public narrative that they callously looted money from the poor.

The DiBiase family, for example, says they were carrying out the mission of the agency when Davis hired them to conduct multi-million-dollar motivational courses or preach the gospel to low-income teens. Paul Lacoste, a fitness trainer whose company received a $1.3 million contract through Families First, says he met about his program with Davis, Bryant, and officials from the federal office, who all supported the concept of offering exercise classes as part of the welfare agency’s approach to strengthening Mississippi families. Lobaki, a software company that received $795,000 through Families First to conduct a virtual reality academy, says the vocational training it was contracted to perform fits the welfare program’s purpose of “ending the dependence of needy parents on government benefits.”

“It was the government that chose to run this program this way. And it was not a secret,” Teddy DiBiase Jr.’s criminal defense attorney, Scott Gilbert, told Mississippi Today earlier this year. “… So what this boils down to is do people feel like this was an appropriate use of TANF money or other money to carry out the function of government? That’s a fair question, and that’s a question that reasonable people absolutely can disagree about. But it’s not a crime.”

Ultimately, the federal government has given state politicians broad leeway to spend federal TANF dollars based on their philosophy about poverty and what constitutes helping people, including the boot-straps approach of intentionally withholding government assistance. Gov. Bryant, who oversaw the welfare department and set its agenda during the time the scandal occurred, preferred the “Families First” programming of parenting and fatherhood classes, bullying prevention, abstinence education and anti-obesity initiatives. But Bryant never asked the agency for outcomes to show what those programs accomplished or how they prevented or moved families out of poverty.

“You would think the state is the safeguard for handling funds like this, but when you have people who are the custodian of these funds at the state level who have unclean missions in life, then you have what you have,” Thompson said.

Over time, the purchases attached to those nebulous services morphed into things like a 15-acre horse ranch for former USM running back Marcus Dupree, the construction of a volleyball stadium, lobbying expenses, sports camps for young athletes and star-studded high school rallies. At the same time, from 2016 to 2020, the state cut the number of families receiving monthly assistance in half, from nearly 6,000 to 2,600, with virtually no concern from state leadership.

“There is a culture. Whether or not legally it rises to federal cases, and goes that high up, from a criminal standpoint, it may or may not. But it certainly is morally corrupt what they did and people ought to pay a political price for it,” Jones said.

From 2020 to 2022, under Gov. Tate Reeves, the caseload of families dropped another 1,000 while the state has left over $100 million in welfare funds unspent. Current agency director Bob Anderson told lawmakers last year that the state was still not tracking the outcomes for families receiving services through TANF subgrantees.

The criminal investigation may have halted the actual fraud, but so far it has made little difference to the very poor families seeking help through the program, or to Mississippians looking for answers about how things went so wrong.

When Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Adrienne Wooten asked Davis at his plea hearing last year why he would break the law to enrich Brett DiBiase, all he could muster was, “Very, very bad judgment,” followed by a long pause and then, “I shouldn’t have done it.”

Davis’ state guilty plea to 18 counts of fraud or conspiracy came with a prison sentence of 32 years — a fact featured prominently in news headlines — but that’s nowhere near the time he’ll actually serve. In the generous joint plea agreement between federal and state prosecutors and Davis, the looming federal sentence of no more than 15 years in federal prison on two counts supersedes the state sentence.

The deal all but ensures he’ll never face a criminal trial or see the inside of one Mississippi’s notoriously harsh state prisons. The other defendants received similar deals. Wooten seemed to leave the courtroom unsatisfied.

“Even with the questions that have been asked,” she said by the end of the hearing, “this court is still not understanding what actually took place and more importantly, what would’ve caused you to perform these particular acts.”

As the historic case enters its fourth year, the same could be said for the public.

June 21, 2019

Investigation begins

Mississippi State Auditor’s Office begins investigation into fraud at the Mississippi Department of Human Services

February 4, 2020

Grand jury indicts six people

Hinds County grand jury indicts six people — former MDHS Director John Davis, nonprofit founder Nancy New and her son Zach New, former professional wrestler Brett DiBiase, nonprofit accountant Anne McGrew and former MDHS procurement officer Gregory “Latimer” Smith.

February 5, 2020

The case goes public

Agents from the auditor’s office arrest six people, making the case public. The charges alleges they stole a total of $4 million from the welfare department, $2 million of which went to a pharmaceutical company called Prevacus. The venture involved both former Gov. Phil Bryant and former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, Mississippi Today uncovered shortly after the arrests

February 6, 2020

State Auditor and the FBI

State Auditor Shad White says he turned over all investigative materials to the FBI, but then-U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst says state authorities did not reach out to his office about the investigation and that he learned about the indictment from media reports

May 4, 2020

Annual audit released

The auditor releases an annual audit questioning $94 million in federal grant fund purchases, including $1.1 million New’s nonprofit paid directly to Favre

June 22, 2020

First known court action

Agents from the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington filed a complaint for civil forfeiture to seize the Madison home of former professional wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase. This is the DOJ’s first known court action in the welfare case

December 17, 2020

Brett DiBiase faces state charges

Brett DiBiase pleads guilty to state charges

March 16, 2021

Nancy and Zach New indicted

A federal grand jury indicts Nancy and Zach New on separate charges that their private schools, called New Summit, defrauded the Mississippi Department of Education out of $2 million, later increased to $4 million

October 1, 2021

Forensic audit released

MDHS releases its forensic audit confirming much of the suspected welfare misspending

October 11, 2021

McGrew pleads guilty

Anne McGrew pleads guilty to state charges

April 4, 2022

“The Backchannel” is published

Mississippi Today begins publishing its investigative series, “The Backchannel,” which, for the first time, reveals text messages between Bryant and Favre showing that the athlete offered stock in Prevacus to the governor in exchange for his help growing the company; that Favre told Bryant when Prevacus started receiving funds from the welfare operators; and that Bryant agreed to accept a company package after leaving office, right before the initial arrests in early 2020

April 20, 2022

The News face federal charges

Nancy and Zach New plead guilty to federal charges related to their private school funding scheme

April 22, 2022

The News face state charges

Nancy and Zach New plead guilty to state charges related to the welfare scandal. Zach New’s charges include funneling welfare money to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation to build a volleyball stadium

May 9, 2022

MDHS files civil lawsuit

MDHS files a civil lawsuit against 35 people or companies, including Favre, to recoup $24 million in misspent welfare funds. On the direction of Gov. Tate Reeves’ office, the suit does not target the volleyball stadium or University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation

July 22, 2022

Brad Pigott fired

Reeves’s office and MDHS fire Brad Pigott, the lawyer it hired to craft the civil suit, about a week after Pigott subpoenaed University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for its communication with former Gov. Bryant, among others

September 22, 2022

John Davis pleads guilty

John Davis pleads guilty to state and federal charges

October 3, 2022

Latimer Smith avoids prosecution

Latimer Smith receives pre-trial diversion, allowing him to avoid prosecution

December 5, 2022

MDHS amends charges

MDHS amends charges in the civil lawsuit, adding the USM volleyball stadium scheme and nine new people or companies, bringing the total attempted recovery to $77 million and number of defendants to 44

March 2, 2023

Brett DiBiase faces federal charges

Brett DiBiase pleads guilty to federal charges

March 16, 2023

Christi Webb faces federal charges

Christi Webb pleads guilty to federal charges, the first criminal charges she’s faced

April 20, 2023

Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. pleads not guilty

Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. pleads not guilty to federal charges, the first criminal charges he’s faced

The post Welfare head pleaded guilty to federal charges one year ago. What’s happened since? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Sept. 22, 1927

St. Louis native Josephine Baker became the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. She played the lead role of Papitou in the French silent film, “Siren of the Tropics,” who, like Baker, found her true calling as a performer. 

The film’s success led to other starring roles, an autobiography, the creation of a doll in her likeness and even a toothpaste commercial. 

At age 11, Baker had witnessed racial violence in East St. Louis, “watching the glow of the burning of Negro homes lighting the sky. We children stood huddled together in bewilderment … frightened to death with the screams of the Negro families running across this bridge with nothing but what they had on their backs as their worldly belongings.” 

After working in some choruses on Broadway, she traveled to Paris, where she became the most successful American entertainer working in France. Picasso drew paintings of her, author Ernest Hemingway spent hours talking to her in Paris bars. During World War II, she aided the French Resistance by socializing with the Germans while secretly gathering information that she transmitted to England, sometimes writing the information in invisible ink on her sheet music. 

After the war, she received the Croix de Guerre, the medal of the Légion d’honneur and other medals. When she returned to the U.S., she refused to appear before segregated audiences, despite being offered up to $10,000 ($110,000 in today’s money) to perform. She fought to prevent Willie McGee’s execution in Mississippi, and in 1951, the NAACP honored her with a “Josephine Baker Day” and a parade of 100,000 in Harlem. 

In 1963, she became the only official female speaker at the March on Washington. She adopted a dozen children in her lifetime from countries around the globe. She called her children the “Rainbow Tribe.” She played Carnegie Hall in 1973, the Royal Variety Performance in 1974 and a revue celebrating her 50 years in show business in 1975. 

After rave reviews, she died unexpectedly after experiencing a cerebral hemorrhage. More than 20,000 attended her funeral, where she received full French military honors. 

Diana Ross portrayed Baker in her Tony-winning Broadway show, an HBO movie told her life (for which Lynn Whitfield became the first Black actress to win an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special), and she was depicted in the TV series, “Lovecraft Country.” 

In 2021, Baker was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris — the first Black woman to receive this honor.

The post On this day in 1927 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

After being criticized for months by his Democratic opponent for not having a plan to address Mississippi’s health care crisis, Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday unveiled what he called “sweeping Medicaid reimbursement reforms.”

Reeves’ proposal, announced less than two months before the November election, includes pulling more federal dollars to increase Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals — a plan that Reeves’ own Medicaid administration advised GOP lawmakers and hospital leaders last year wouldn’t work.

Hospitals under the plan would pay an increase in “bed taxes,” but this would allow more federal dollars to be drawn down for a net to hospitals of $689 million, Reeves said. His plan also includes a measure to allow speedier prior insurance authorization of drugs or procedures, a measure lawmakers had passed but Reeves vetoed earlier this year.

Reeves’ plan does not include Mississippi accepting more than $1 billion a year in federal dollars to expand Medicaid to cover the working poor as 40 other states have done.

The governor’s plan was immediately panned on Thursday by supporters of Medicaid expansion and of his opponent, who dubbed his proposal, “too little, too Tate.” State political observers speculated Reeves’ new plan is a result of polling and of Mississippi’s GOP legislative leadership warming to the idea of Medicaid expansion.

READ MORE: Likely new Speaker Jason White says Medicaid expansion ‘will be on table’

Tim Moore, president of the Mississippi Hospital Association, on Thursday said, “Who would have ever thought donating $250,000 to a Democrat would have motivated a Republican so much?” He was referring to MHA’s PAC donating to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley.

Moore said he was appreciative of Reeves’ proposal, but “surprised by what was presented because they’re things we’ve proposed for years.”

“It still does nothing to help the low-wage earners in Mississippi who do not have the disposable income to pay for medical care,” Moore said. “What’s the difference in taking federal money to do this, and taking federal money to cover working poor people?”

Reeves reiterated his opposition to Medicaid expansion, which he referred to as “welfare,” as he gave a press briefing on his new plan, which would have to be approved by the federal Centers for Medicaid Services. Reeves said the plan was submitted to CMS on Thursday, and that approval or disapproval could take months.

“This will have a profound impact on the bottom line of hospitals across the state, large and small,” Reeves said Thursday. As for Mississippi’s highest-in-the-nation rate of people without insurance, Reeves reiterated that they need to get a job or better job.

“We need more people in the workforce,” Reeves said. “… I am focused on bringing better and higher paying jobs and providing opportunity for Mississippians to train for the jobs of tomorrow and have their insurance through their employer.”

READ MORE: Nearly half of rural hospitals at risk of closure in Mississippi, new data shows

Reeves’ proposal on Thursday was immediately blasted by his Democratic opponent Brandon Presley, who has made Medicaid expansion to cover the working poor with federal dollars a major plank in his platform.

“If Tate Reeves really cared about ending the hospital closure crisis he created, he would call a special session and expand Medicaid so working families can get the healthcare they need,” Presley said in a statement. “Tate Reeves has had 12 long years to do something about Mississippi’s hospital crisis and 47 days before an election is too little, too late for the hospitals that have cut essential services, lost jobs, or are on the brink of closing altogether. 

“Today’s announcement is nothing more than an election year stunt and just more proof that Tate Reeves is a craven, failed governor who will always look out for himself and his political career ahead of the health of Mississippi families,” Presley said.

Other state Democratic leaders held a small rally outside Reeves’ office building after his announcement. They chanted, “Too little, too Tate,” and called for Medicaid expansion.

“Tate Reeves does not care about the $1 billion it would bring into our state or the 10,000 jobs it would create,” said state Democratic Party chairman and state Rep. Cheikh Taylor. “At the end of the day, Tate Reeves does not care. He cares about what his political position is in the final days of the election.”

Reeves proposal, if approved by CMS, would reimburse providers of Medicaid managed care services near the rate at which private insurers pay. It would reimburse hospitals for treating Medicaid fee-for-service patients at the upper level of what Medicare pays, higher than Medicaid’s normal rate. Hospitals would pay more in bed taxes to cover the state’s share of the higher rates, and lose some federal payments for treating uninsured patients, but would net an estimated $689.5 million, Reeves said.

Republican legislative leaders and the hospital association starting last year pushed a similar proposal to increase Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals, but were told by Reeves’ Medicaid administrators that it wouldn’t work — and would only bring in about $40 million — because the state’s rate of commercial insurance payments are so low.

When asked about this on Thursday, Reeves deferred the question to Medicaid Director Drew Snyder, who cryptically answered that the difference in projections this year versus last year is because, “We got the right people in the room.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Thursday said: “Last year, around this time, our office met with Medicaid and hospitals to discuss hospital payment initiatives, but we were told by Medicaid that these changes were not currently possible. The Legislature then turned to alternatives … We are always happy to discuss long-term solutions to stabilize hospitals in Mississippi and improve access to care.”

Reeves presented his plan in a press conference flanked by several executives of the state’s largest hospitals. None of them spoke, and they were not made available for media questions in the briefing.

Gary Marchand is interim CEO of Greenwood Leflore Hospital, one of many small rural hospitals in Mississippi teetering on the brink of closure. Reeves, in his presser on Thursday, provided a sheet that showed Greenwood Leflore would receive an extra $10 million a year if his plan gets federal approval.

Marchand, contacted on Thursday, said he’s unsure how much of an impact the additional money would make, but he’s appreciative of “any efforts to provide additional cash resources in support of our operations.” He also added, “We are hopeful for a rapid approval process.”

Reeves on Thursday vowed his new plan is “just the beginning.”

“Our eyes are set on the future, and we aim to continue ushering in reforms that strengthen Mississippi’s healthcare system no matter where you live in the state,” Reeves said.

Mississippi Today reporter Devna Bose contributed to this story.

The post Gov. Reeves announces 11th hour plan for hospital crisis. Opponents pan it as ‘too little, too Tate’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.