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

In a letter to managed care companies that contract with Medicaid, Executive Director Drew Snyder wrote that the agency concurs with its counterpart in Florida that there is not enough evidence that “sex reassignment through medical intervention” is safe. Florida’s report was released in June of last year. 

Snyder did not respond to a call and text to his personal cell phone Thursday afternoon. His  letter was addressed to executives of Molina Healthcare of Mississippi, UnitedHealthCare Community & State MS and Magnolia Health Plan. Communications officials with the three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“As the care coordination organizations for the majority of children and adolescents enrolled in Mississippi Medicaid, your input is welcome on approaches to effectively address any health needs without posing risky side effects or irreversible changes,” he wrote.

It’s unclear if Snyder’s letter has any effect on what services are currently covered, or why he reached out to the managed care companies instead of providers of gender-affirming care. If the agency does opt to exclude this treatment, it would join a handful of states already doing so. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas all have Medicaid policies that specifically exclude transgender health coverage, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

The Feb. 15 letter first reported by the Magnolia Tribune comes as a bill is working its way through the Legislature that would ban this kind of treatment for trans minors in Mississippi. House Bill 1125 would prevent the state’s roughly 2,400 trans kids and their families from getting hormone therapy or puberty blockers in the state. 

Snyder’s letter contradicts the advice and position of major medical associations in the U.S. on gender-affirming care. It is evidence-based, and not considered “experimental” by the majority of the medical community. 

Also known as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures” (REAP) Act, the bill bans Mississippi doctors from performing gender-confirmation surgery or prescribing drugs such as puberty blockers or hormones to those under 18. 

The bill would allow for the doctors’ licenses to be revoked and create a “civil claim of action” for them to be sued with a 30-year statute of limitations. It would prohibit insurers or Medicaid from reimbursing families for such procedures and would strip doctors who provide them of the state’s generous tort claims protections.

READ MORE: What to know about gender-affirming care in Mississippi 

Gender-affirming care, or “sex reassignment” as Mississippi officials have called it, refers to a broad range of interventions, from medical treatment to psychological and social support, that aims to affirm an individual’s gender identity, especially when it is different from the one they were assigned at birth, according to the World Health Organization. 

Decades of research support gender-affirming care as the proper treatment for gender dysphoria, the distress trans people can experience when their physical features do not match their gender identity.

Research has repeatedly shown that gender-affirming care significantly boosts the chances that trans kids will live to see adulthood. A study published last year in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association found that over the course of a year, gender-affirming care was associated with 60% reduced odds of moderate to severe depression and 73% less odds of suicidal thoughts. 

Stacie Pace, the co-owner of Spectrum: The Other Clinic, said that the two main international medical organizations that write guidelines for gender-affirming care — the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society — cite hundreds of references and are easy to find on the internet. 

“All it takes is just a quick Google, and all this research is right there in front of you,” she said. 

There are three main forms of gender-affirming medical treatment: Puberty blockers, which are only for kids, hormone therapy and gender-confirmation surgery. In Mississippi, there is no clinic that performs any kind of gender-confirmation surgery on minors, according to in-state providers of gender-affirming care. 

Puberty blockers are medications that pause puberty in kids. Research has shown the effects are reversible. While hormone therapy can cause some permanent effects, such as a deeper voice, it typically takes at least a year for this to occur, Pace said. 

But Pace added that many other side effects of hormone therapy, like increased muscle mass or the development of breast tissue, will disappear over time if a patient ceases treatment. 

“It will take about as long as it took for it to occur, but it will go away,” she said.  

Alex Mills, a pharmacist who has worked with trans people, said he was confused by the letter. While a minority of his patients are on Medicaid, he hasn’t heard of Medicaid covering prescriptions for hormone therapy for trans adults since he started working in Jackson three years ago. If Medicaid covered prescriptions for his outspoken patients, Mills said they would tell him. 

“I feel like they’re just kind of jumping on the bandwagon,” he said. “It’s an irrelevant comment, because they (Medicaid) haven’t been covering (hormone therapy), so I’m just confused why they’re even saying this. Just to say it?” 

Mills said Medicaid has covered medical visits, but that he doesn’t know if it has covered puberty blockers, which can be pricey – up to $1,500 for a single shot that lasts a month. Hormone therapy is cheaper, so Mills recommends patients use GoodRx coupons to make their prescriptions more affordable. 

At Spectrum, Pace said just one youth patient is currently on Medicaid. But of the clinic’s roughly 1,000 adult patients, about half are Medicaid beneficiaries. 

The Division of Medicaid has not taken a stance on other issues being considered by the Legislature. One of those is extending postpartum care from 60 days to one year for new mothers, which Speaker of the House Philip Gunn said he has asked the agency to do.  

When a committee tasked with advising Medicaid about health and medical care services voted unanimously in October to recommend that the Legislature extend postpartum coverage, the Division of Medicaid still did not take a stance.

The State Board of Medical Licensure, which would enforce the bill’s provision revoking providers’ licenses, has not responded to questions from Mississippi Today. The University of Mississippi Medical Center, which has provided gender-affirming care to trans kids at its LGBTQ-focused TEAM Clinic, said earlier this month that “we have no comment for now.” 

The post Mississippi Medicaid: Gender-affirming care for kids is not ‘safe and effective’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday he has a plan for infrastructure improvements to drive economic development, and he’s asking lawmakers for $1.3 billion this session so he can kick off road projects statewide.

Reeves said the “vast majority” of the projects are already in the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s three-year plan for road work, but he’s picked ones that are shovel ready and that will help traffic capacity and give “Mississippi the competitive advantage it needs to land more economic development projects and deliver more high-quality, high-paying jobs for Mississippians.”

Reeves wants lawmakers to use a historically large budget surplus to fund his road plan, during an election year.

Reeves announced his “plan to drive further economic development and growth in Mississippi” at a press conference on Thursday. He had a large state map showing numerous proposed projects dotted statewide, many of them long in the works by MDOT or requested by local leaders.

It is unclear why Reeves would go around MDOT and normal channels and ask lawmakers to put $1.3 billion in a special account for his plan, or why it wasn’t part of his budget recommendation to lawmakers in the fall. He said time is of the essence, particularly with high inflation rates driving up cost of road construction, although he acknowledged all the projects couldn’t be completed during one fiscal year.

Reeves’ proposal includes a request for $100 million for the state Emergency Road and Bridge Repair program, which provides money for local governments. Lawmakers allocated $100 million for the program last year, with the Senate pushing unsuccessfully for $300 million. Reeves also is asking for more money for grants to develop project-ready industrial parks statewide.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Thursday issued a statement about the governor’s proposal.

“The Senate has prioritized infrastructure funding, with billions allocated for road, bridge, water, and sewer projects over the past several years,” Hosemann said. “We look forward to reviewing the Governor’s recommendations and continuing our emphasis on critical infrastructure.”

MDOT Director Brad White, Reeves’ former chief of staff, and Tom King, chair of the three-member elected Transportation Commission that oversees MDOT, both supported Reeves’ request in statements on Thursday.

“There is no better use for the one-time money our state currently has than investing in a core function of government — our state’s public infrastructure,” White said. “I applaud Gov. Tate Reeves and the Legislature for their vigorous support and focus on Mississippi’s transportation system.”

King said: “Our top priorities at MDOT are safety, efficiency and economic development. This initiative hits all three. Increasing capacity and safety with projects that are nearest shovel-ready is efficient use of one-time funds. This investment will in-turn help encourage economic development and expansion across the state. I look forward to continuing this conversation with our state leaders in the days and weeks to come.”

Reeves said, “We have had conversations with individual members (of the Legislature) and the leadership” about his road plan.

Asked how he views the chances of lawmakers earmarking $1.3 billion for his road plan, he said: “I am forever an optimist when it comes to working with the Legislature.”

The post Gov. Tate Reeves wants $1.3 billion from lawmakers for his new road plan appeared first on Mississippi Today.

House leaders introduced and passed legislation Thursday to provide $80 million in state funds for financially challenged hospitals instead of expanding Medicaid to provide more than a $1 billion per year in federal funds for Mississippi’s litany of health care needs.

The bill passed the House overwhelmingly, though some members made it clear that the $80 million is nothing more than a “Band-Aid” and that much more needs to be done to address the hospital crisis.

During floor debate, Rep. Earl Banks, D-Jackson, asked House Public Health Chair Sam Mims, R-McComb, how many years would state funds be used to provide grants to hospitals. Mims said he did not know.

“If Medicaid would be expanded, which I understand would bring about $1 billion, then it probably would not be necessary to give them $80 million and we could use those funds for other things,” said Rep. Earl Banks, D-Jackson.

Mims replied, “This piece of legislation has nothing to do with expanding Medicaid.”

Mims and other Republican leaders, such as Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves, have opposed expanding Medicaid to provide health care coverage for primarily the working poor. They say they oppose expanding government programs and also contend the state cannot afford the cost of expanding Medicaid.

The federal government pays 90% of the health case costs of those covered through Medicaid expansion. Various studies say that the 10% cost to the state for expanding Medicaid is minimal or would even result in net positive revenue for the state because of the cost savings associated with the expansion, such as reducing the amount of uncompensated costs hospitals incur.

Mississippi is one of just 11 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid.

READ MORE: Every Medicaid expansion bill dies without debate or vote

The Mississippi Senate passed similar legislation earlier this year providing $80 million grants to the hospitals. At some point the two chambers will have to agree on a single piece of legislation before hospitals can receive the funds.

Both legislative Republicans and Democrats have said $80 million in grants over a year’s time is not enough to deal with the financial issues facing most of the state’s about 110 hospitals. The Mississippi Hospital Association has endorsed expanding Medicaid, saying it would not solve all their problems but would provide much needed relief.

The $80 million passed by the House would be disbursed based on the number of beds each hospital has. It equates to an average of about $6,436 per bed.

Mims told House members he hopes that later in the legislative process, the amount of funds earmarked for hospitals can be increased before final passage.

Rep. Bryant Clark, D-Pickens, offered an amendment to increase the amount of the grants to $275 million.

“We can’t sit back and be a like an ostrich with our heads stuck in the sand and our butts pointed up at the sky,” Clark said. “Everybody in here knows we are right here in the midst of a health care crisis. Hospitals are closing.”

Both Clark’s amendment and one offered by Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, were defeated along party line votes. Hines’ amendment would have created a study committee to look at the best options to ensure the financial viability of the state’s hospitals.

Reports indicate that at least 28 hospitals are on the brink of closure and many more are facing financial difficulties resulting in staff shortage and the closure of programs.

READ MORE: ‘Slightly more breathing room’: Fewer rural hospitals at risk of closure, but threat still looms

The post House votes to spend $80 million in state funds for health care instead of taking $1 billion in federal money appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday said legislative efforts at state control of Jackson’s troubled water system are “either a little bit too late or either a little bit premature.”

Reeves also appeared to question whether a controversial bill to create a new, separate court system for part of Jackson that would strip Jacksonians’ right to elect their own judges is fully baked or “meets constitutional muster.”

Reeves was asked about the bills — which have drawn national headlines and brought bitter debate on racial lines — at the end of an unrelated press conference on Thursday. The two measures are among a bevy of bills that white, Republican lawmakers this session are pushing over protests from Jackson’s legislative delegation and leaders of the Blackest large city in the country.

Reeves himself has clashed with Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba over state emergency actions to restore water and have state police start patrolling parts of the city he called “the murder capital of the world.” But on Thursday Reeves took a toned-down approach while speaking about the fight between lawmakers and the city.

Reeves said he expects the federal conservatorship now in control of Jackson’s water system will remain so for years to come, making state legislative efforts to take it over moot, at least for now.

Senate Bill 2889, passed by the Senate and pending in the House, would create a non-profit “regional” authority to run Jackson’s water system. A majority of the board overseeing the authority would be appointed by state leaders.

But the federally appointed water system manager tasked with fixing the ailing system has said he expects to be in place at least five years. Reeves on Thursday said that federal control could last longer, up to 10 years.

READ MORE: ‘Only in Mississippi’: White representatives vote to create white-appointed court system for Blackest city in America

Reeves was also asked about House Bill 1020, which would create a separate court system and expand state police force patrolling in Jackson.

Opponents of the bill, including Jackson and Hinds County elected leaders, say the bill is racist, implying Black leadership is incapable of governance, and unconstitutional, taking away voting rights. The measure would make part of Jackson the only area in the state where voters don’t elect their district judges. Instead they would be appointed by the state Supreme Court Chief Justice and prosecutors would be appointed by the attorney general.

Reeves said he believes the legislation aimed at Jackson is “well intentioned,” but stressed it is an early draft and said his office is working with legislative leaders in part to make sure such measures “meet constitutional muster.”

READ MORE: Hinds County forces unite against bill to create unelected judicial district, expanded police force

The bill would also expand the current boundaries of the Capitol Complex Improvement District well north of downtown. Reeves in 2021 was a proponent of the successful push to have Capitol Police, once tasked only with patrolling state owned buildings and grounds, patrol the CCID.

Reeves, who oversees Capitol Police via his appointed director of the Department of Public Safety, reiterated his support for Capitol Police patrolling.

“Jackson is the murder capital of the world, and the thought of doing nothing is not an option,” Reeves said.

The post Gov. Tate Reeves questions bills that would take over Jackson water, create new court system appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Tax Credits to the Rescue! appeared first on Mississippi Today.

One week before the faculty senate at Jackson State University voted “no confidence” in President Thomas Hudson, the college board voted to renew his contract for another four years. 

During an executive session after its regular monthly board meeting on Jan. 19, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees voted to renew Hudson’s contract through 2027. They also renewed the contract for Jerryl Briggs, the president of Mississippi Valley State University, for another four years. 

The contract renewals were made public in this month’s board book. 

The contract renewal does not mean Hudson or Briggs received a raise, according to IHL spokesperson Caron Blanton. As of last year, both presidents received a $300,000 annual salary from the state of Mississippi and an additional $5,000 foundation bonus. 

The contract renewal signals the IHL board is supportive of Hudson as he is now dealing with the fallout from the faculty senate’s no-confidence vote. A JSU alum, Hudson was appointed president in the wake of a scandal after former president William Bynum was arrested in a prostitution sting.

At Thursday’s meeting, Hudson told Mississippi Today he is “always grateful for the support” from the IHL board. 

In a statement to Mississippi Today sent after the story published, Hudson continued: “We’ve seen excellent progress over the last three years and I look forward to the work ahead. I’d like to thank the IHL board for their continued support of my administration and our accomplished students, faculty and staff.”

Tom Duff, the IHL Board president, said the board is “very pleased” with Hudson and that the contract renewal was not connected to the no confidence vote. 

“Candidly, Jackson State is moving forward,” Duff said, citing the university’s financial and enrollment metrics and graduation rate.  

At public universities, faculty senates are governing bodies elected by faculty to represent their concerns. No-confidence votes are relatively rare in Mississippi: The most recent happened in 2019 after the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees appointed Glenn Boyce as chancellor at the University of Mississippi. 

The JSU faculty senate’s two-page resolution accused Hudson and four members of his administration of a “continuous pattern of failing to respect” shared governance and other professional norms of higher education. It cited the fact that Hudson has not met with senate leadership since last August, according to faculty senate meeting minutes, instead requesting that concerns be sent in an email to members of his administration. 

The resolution also calls out persistent issues of campus safety and the continued lack of a pay equity study for faculty and staff, which the senate has for years been asking Hudson’s administration to undertake. 

Hudson’s administration has maintained that JSU could not afford to pay the vendors that responded to two requests for proposals for a pay equity study, though it is unclear how much money Hudson has committed to the study.   

After the no-confidence vote, the Clarion-Ledger reported that IHL will investigate. 

Duff told Mississippi Today Thursday that the IHL board’s commissioner, Al Rankins, will look into the vote and bring a recommendation to the board. 

Rankins works directly with the university presidents in Mississippi, meeting with them frequently. 

During a listening session at JSU after he was appointed in 2018, Rankins, who served as president of Alcorn State University, said that matters of shared governance don’t fall under his purview. 

“Nothing gives me the authority to address shared governance,” he said. “Shared governance does not mean that all these different groups tell the president what he should do. Ultimately, the decision rests with the president.”

READ MORE: ‘The honeymoon period is over’: JSU faculty senate votes no confidence in president, administration

The post IHL board voted to renew Hudson’s contract a week before no-confidence vote appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The FBI has opened an investigation into the alleged beating and torture of two Black men by Rankin County dputies.

“The FBI Jackson Field Office, the U,S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi have opened a federal civil rights investigation into a color of law incident into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office,” according to a statement from the FBI.

Weeks after Rankin County deputies raided a home and beat and threatened two Black men and shot one in the mouth, a civil rights attorney is calling for justice, answers and for the deputies to be charged. 

On Wednesday, Michael Corey Jenkins, 32, was released from the intensive care unit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He underwent two surgeries to treat injuries to his mouth and head, including surgical removal of his tongue. As a result, he is unable to talk and now communicates through writing or gestures. 

“Easily he could have been like Tyree Nichols or on the long (list of) names of victims here of police abuse and police brutality,” said Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice in Washington, D.C., one of Jenkins’ attorneys. 

On Jan. 24, Jenkins and another victim, Eddie Terrell Parker, 35, were at a home in Braxton where Parker lives with the property owner when six white Rankin deputies conducting a drug investigation raided. 

Shabazz said they did not announce themselves or show a search warrant. They accused the men of selling drugs and later charged them with possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia, the attorney said. 

For 90 minutes, deputies exercised what Shabazz called intimidation and unjustified torture of Jenkins and Parker. The men were punched, kicked, slapped and tasered while handcuffed. They had guns pointed at them and were threatened with death, Shabazz said. 

The attorney said during that time, the deputies waterboarded Jenkins and Parker. Waterboarding is an illegal torture technique that involves strapping someone down, putting a wet rag in their mouth and pouring water over them to simulate drowning.

“It was senseless and uncalled for,” Parker said at the news conference. “It was traumatizing and something I never thought I’d go through.” 

It ended when a deputy placed a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger, Shabazz said. Jenkins could have died, but the bullet exited his mouth. 

When Mary Jenkins found out her son had been shot by police, she called the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. She asked what the charges were against Jenkins, but did not get an answer. She was only told he was under investigation. 

“They acted like my son wasn’t even human,” she said, adding that the sheriff’s office didn’t treat her family well, kept Jenkins under their watch at the hospital and prevented them from seeing him. 

On Tuesday, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation interviewed Jenkins in his hospital room for the first time since the shooting, and he confirmed what deputies did to him, Shabazz said. 

The recounting of Jenkins’ and Parker’s experience differs from information offered by investigators and law enforcement. 

A Jan.25 news release from the Department of Public Safety said Rankin County deputies encountered a person – now identified as Jenkins – during a narcotics investigation at a Braxton residence and shot when he displayed a gun.  

During the Wednesday news conference, Jenkins shook his head when Shabazz asked whether he had a gun or handled one at any point during the incident. 

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey released a five-sentence statement Tuesday evening that did not address allegations of mistreatment by the deputies against Jenkins and Parker. 

He said the sheriff’s office contacted the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to look into the deputies’ actions.

“We are fully cooperating with that ongoing investigation and will continue to do so,” Bailey said in the statement. “Rest assured, if any deputy or suspect involved in this incident is found to have broken the law, he will be held accountable in accordance with the law.”

Shabazz said the sheriff’s office has not shared much information, including confirmation whether any officers have been placed on administrative leave. 

The attorney is asking for attempted murder, aggravated assault and conspiracy charges to be filed against all the deputies, all body camera footage be released and Rankin County to respond immediatelyreply  to all records requests related to the incident.

He read the allegations of brutality from a notice to file a lawsuit against Sheriff Bryan Bailey and the government of Rankin County. After a 90-day period, Shabazz can file the lawsuit and is set to ask for $90 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the two men. 

Shabazz also wants the “totally false” charges against the men to be dropped. In addition to drug charges, Parker was also charged with disorderly conduct and Jenkins was charged with aggravated assault, the attorney said. 

Another member of the men’s legal team, attorney Trent Walker, said they will take the lead to get the charges against Jenkins and Parker dismissed. 

“Something has to change because what is going on here should not go on in a civilized society,” he said. 

The post Rankin County deputies beat, tortured two Black men, leaving one in the hospital for weeks, lawyers allege appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A House committee passed a bill late Wednesday that would create or expand eight tax credits aimed at helping care for poor families, mothers and children in wake of Mississippi’s ban on abortions.

“This is designed to help newly pregnant ladies and struggling families,” House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, told members of his committee. “…Most are existing (tax credit programs) that we are expanding, but a couple are new.”

Lamar said the tax credits, for both businesses and individuals, would be “dollar-for-dollar” for taxpayers who donate to qualified charities, health centers and homes or write off child care or adoption expenses. But some of the programs would limit the credits to 50% of tax liability, and all are capped by total amounts lawmakers allocate to them.

The bill came from House Speaker Philip Gunn’s “Commission on Life,” which was created in June 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on a Mississippi case that overturned Roe vs. Wade abortion rights. Gunn said the ruling would bring “new challenges” for Mississippi to make sure “those who are born have the resources they need.”

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann also created a select committee of lawmakers — who held public hearings in the fall — to help guide post-Roe policies in a state already struggling to provide healthcare. Gunn’s committee, however, has met in private and scant details about its work have been made public.

READ MORE: Six months after Dobbs ruling, the work of Gunn’s ‘Commission on Life’ remains a mystery

Gunn and Lamar co-authored House Bill 1671 and its tax credits. The bill, which now heads to the full House chamber for a vote, would:

• Create a child care expense tax credit, like the federal one, allowing up to 50% of the amount of the federal income tax credit claimed for individuals and couples making less than $50,000 a year.

• Increase the total amount of tax credits for those donating to pregnancy resources centers from $3.5 million a year to $10 million.

• Increase the maximum adoption expense tax credit for families from $5,000 to $10,000.

• Increase tax credits of up to $400 for an individual and $800 for a couple donating to qualified charitable and foster care organizations to up to 50% of tax liability, including ad valorem taxes.

• Increase the total tax credits available for the “Mississippi Children’s Promise Act” — donations to qualified charities that help children — from $18 million to $24 million.

• Create tax credits, up to 50% of a tax liability, for those donating to transitional homes, that help people aging out of foster care, homeless people under 25, homeless families and/or homeless or referred pregnant women.

• Create new health care tax credits of $3 million for businesses and $1 million for individuals for those those who donate to nonprofits that provide health care to low-income people.

• Create tax credits totaling $1 million for any nonprofit “purchasing, warehousing and delivering food directly to food pantries or soup kitchens in more than five Mississippi counties on a monthly basis.”

READ MORE: Republicans vowed a robust post-Roe agenda. Here’s how it’s going.

The post House addresses Mississippi post-Roe challenges with tax credits appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The House Republican majority rejected a Medicaid expansion amendment on the floor Wednesday that supporters said would aid the state’s struggling hospitals.

The amendment, offered Wednesday by House Minority Leader Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, would have prevented the appropriation for the Mississippi Division of Medicaid from going into effect until Medicaid was expanded to provide health care coverage for the working poor.

The amendment was supported by 41 Democrats and one independent. Five Republicans and one independent did not vote.

READ MORE: Poll: 80% of Mississippians favor Medicaid expansion

Since the vote was on the budget for the Division of Medicaid, Democrats could not offer an amendment mandating the expansion of Medicaid. Instead, under provisions of the Mississippi Constitution, only conditions can be placed on budget bills, such as the money cannot be appropriated to the agency until Medicaid is expanded.

The Johnson amendment also would have mandated that the Division of Medicaid could not be funded until funds were committed:

• For neonatal intensive care in the Delta.
• To prevent the closure of hospitals in immediate danger of closing.
• To restore services for a burn center in Hinds County.

Johnson told his colleagues that in the past few days, his mother had to be rushed to the hospital late at night.

“What I was thankful for is that a brick-and-mortar hospitals with doctors and nurses were right there in Adams County,” Johnson said, adding his mother is recovering. He said that there are areas in the state where health care is not as accessible. Citing reports that 28 hospitals or more in Mississippi are on the brink of closure, Johnson said there could be more areas in the state where health care would not be as readily accessible.

“This is the hill I am going to die on this session,” said Johnson. “It is the hill I am going to stay on … It is a matter of life and death.”

Thirty-nine states have approved the expansion of Medicaid with another, North Carolina, currently debating the issue in its legislature.

The Mississippi Hospital Association and many state health care groups have advocated Medicaid expansion as a method to help struggling hospitals and to provide health insurance to primarily the working poor in the state.

Republican leaders — primarily House Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves — have staunchly opposed expansion, describing it as a welfare program. Plus, they claim the state cannot afford to pay for the expansion.

But multiple studies have concluded that in Mississippi, Medicaid expansion, with the federal government paying the bulk of the cost, would be a boon to both the state economy and state coffers.

READ MORE: Mississippi leaving more than $1 billion per year on table by rejecting Medicaid expansion

Democrats continually pressed Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, who handled the budget bill Wednesday and chairs the Medicaid Committee, about Republicans’ plan to address the health care crisis in the state. They said the crisis included the poor health condition of many of the state citizens, who lack insurance, and the financial crunch facing many hospitals.

Hood repeatedly said the leadership is continuing to work on a possible solution.

“We are going to do what we can to help Mississippi hospitals,” Hood said, indicating that the leadership might propose state grants for hospitals instead of pulling down federal funds through Medicaid expansion.

The legislative leadership is just beginning the process of passing a budget to fund state government for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1. The more than 100 budget bills being passed this week in both the House and Senate are nothing close to the final product that the membership will be asked to vote on during the final days of the session.

Democrats said their votes on Wednesday were opportunities for rank-and-file House members to provide input in the budgeting process. But the members of the House majority rejected those pleas, opting to not buck their leaders, who ultimately will make the final decision just before the session ends in late March.

READ MORE: ‘What’s your plan, watch Rome burn?’: Politicians continue to reject solution to growing hospital crisis

The post House Republicans reject Medicaid expansion on floor, say plan to aid hospitals is coming appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Local leadership in the Delta says the region’s crumbling health system has been abandoned by the state – so they’re figuring out how to fix it on their own with the help of federal funds.

Greenville’s mayor and a local health clinic say they’re working to give people in the Delta better access to doctors and primary care, as hospitals around them shutter and strip back specialty care. As a result, the city of Greenville received $2 million in federal funds to construct a new health clinic in partnership with the Delta Health Center.

“This is a bottom-up action in response to the state’s failure to act,” said Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons. “We went straight to the solution, and we will continue to do these types of projects to make sure our folks get the health care they need.” 

Simmons accepted a symbolic check from U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson who helped secure the funds from a House spending bill earmarked for community projects during a Tuesday press conference. Thompson announced close to $18.8 million in federal funds for his district, which covers much of Western Mississippi.

“A lot of you have heard of the trouble that health care is having in the Delta,” Thompson said during the press conference. “Our governor, for some reason, doesn’t want to help.” 

Thompson was referring to Gov. Tate Reeve’s firm stance against Medicaid expansion, despite a mounting statewide hospital crisis. New data from mid-January shows that 38% of Mississippi hospitals are at risk of closing. Of the 28 rural hospitals at risk of closing, 19 are at risk of shuttering immediately. 

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Reeves’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today. 

Greenwood Leflore Hospital recently shuttered its labor and delivery unit, primary care clinic and reduced other services. Delta Health-The Medical Center in Greenville also closed its neonatal intensive care unit and cardiac rehabilitation department last year.

Simmons said he applied for the grant last year because he feared the Delta would continue to lose access to doctors. Already, he said, there is only one pediatrician for every 4,000 children in the region. 

He hopes other cities may copy his approach to help fund sorely needed primary care options to lessen the burden on the hospital system, which continues to struggle against massive staffing shortages. 

“I think the Biden-Harris administration has a wealth of opportunities to begin grabbing pockets of money, working from local government to federal government, providing better access to quality health care to the folks that deeply need it,” Simmons said. 

Delta Health Center CEO John Fairman said the new facility is projected to cost about $10 million to construct. He said he is in conversations with other funding sources and hopes to break ground on the new building before the end of the year. 

The vision is for the clinic to better make use of telehealth options to connect rural residents who may not have internet access in their homes with specialists virtually. A nurse or a physician assistant would be in the room in person, too, helping facilitate care.

“Then they can make an assessment for intervention and as to whether or not they need to arrange transport to get to a specialist (in person),” Fairman said. “Once we get a better understanding of the data, we can have a specialist where the most acute cases are (scheduled weekly in person).” 

The new clinic would also have a pharmacy open until 11 p.m. – most Delta pharmacies close at 6 p.m.

Fairman said the future of health care in the Delta needs to be collaborative, and he’s already in discussion with county hospitals on how to better partner. The Delta continues to be among the unhealthiest parts of the state with high percentages of uninsured residents. Fairman and Simmons want better health care intervention to prevent hospital visits. 

“We need other ways to offer care after hours so people are not crowding up the emergency room, and we’re preserving trauma centers and emergency rooms for the people who really need that,” Fairman said.

Medicaid expansion would mean between 200,000 and 300,000 more Mississippians would have access to health insurance and hospitals would have an easier time being reimbursed for care rendered. More than 15 state bills that would have expanded Medicaid to provide coverage to the working poor died earlier this month without any debate or vote in the House or Senate. 

“Had Mississppi accepted the expansion nine years ago, they would have accrued about $14 billion dollars that would go toward health care,” Thompson said. “But somehow they think people don’t need that.” 

Simmons has little faith in the state stepping up to support what his community needs. He hopes more mayors are emboldened to think creatively. 

“An unhealthy child cannot go to school to learn; an unhealthy adult cannot work,” Simmons said. “This is a way for us to begin addressing an epic state failure.” 

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