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Nota: Este artículo es parte del proyecto en curso Crisis de Atención Médica de Mississippi de Mississippi Today. Lea más sobre el proyecto haciendo clic aquí.

El funcionamiento interno de Medicaid, un programa federal destinado a brindar cobertura de salud a los Americanos de bajos ingresos, es inestable e increíblemente difícil de entender.

Probablemente haya escuchado el término “expansión de Medicaid”, palabras que algunos políticos han convertido en armas, utilizadas como una cortina de humo para evitar hablar seriamente sobre una extensión del programa federal-estatal existente que brinda a más personas cobertura de atención médica básica.

A medida que continúa la crisis de atención médica de Mississippi, hemos compilado respuestas a algunas preguntas frecuentes para mostrar los efectos directos de la política, cómo podría cambiar vidas en todo el estado y qué podría ganar el estado al aprobarla.

Haga clic en las preguntas a continuación para saltar a las respuestas, o desplácese hacia abajo para verlo todo.

Haga clic para ir a una pregunta específica

¿Qué es Medicaid?

Medicaid es un programa federal que brinda cobertura de salud a millones de personas en los EE. UU., incluidos adultos de bajos ingresos, niños, mujeres embarazadas, adultos mayores y personas con discapacidades. Los estados administran el programa, que es financiado tanto por los estados como por el gobierno federal. Mississippi actualmente participa en el programa tradicional de Medicaid.

¿Qué es la expansión de Medicaid?

La expansión de Medicaid es una disposición especial creada bajo la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio de 2010 del presidente Barack Obama que tiene como objetivo permitir que más Americanos de bajos ingresos estén cubiertos por el programa y disminuir la cantidad de personas sin seguro. Mississippi es uno de los 12 estados que no ha optado por el programa de expansión. En los estados que optaron por expandirse, la elegibilidad para Medicaid se extiende a adultos de hasta 64 años que tienen ingresos de hasta el 138 % del nivel de pobreza federal, o alrededor de $25,000 para una familia de dos.

Ahora mismo en Mississippi, los adultos no discapacitados sin hijos generalmente nunca califican para el programa, y ??los requisitos de ingresos son muy estrictos para aquellos que son padres ($4608 en ingresos anuales para una familia de tres).

¿Cuántas personas adicionales estarían aseguradas si Mississippi expandiera Medicaid?

Los estudios han estimado que la expansión de Medicaid en Mississippi cubriría a más de 200,000 personas adicionales. Otros estados que se han expandido han visto una disminución en las personas sin seguro, un resultado deseado en Mississippi, que ocupa el sexto lugar en la nación por el porcentaje de personas sin seguro. 

¿Cuál sería el impacto económico de la expansión de Medicaid?

Las estimaciones muestran que la expansión de Medicaid generaría más de $1 mil millones en nuevos ingresos cada año. Múltiples estudios han demostrado que la expansión de Medicaid le ahorraría dinero al estado al reducir los costos de atención no compensados ??para los hospitales, reducir las enfermedades crónicas a través de la atención preventiva y que ayudaría a la economía al crear miles de empleos y el “efecto multiplicador” de los dólares federales. Los estudios realizados por economistas estatales han demostrado que, con el tiempo, aumentaría el PIB y la población del estado. 

¿Cuáles son los mecanismos que podrían usarse en Mississippi para expandir Medicaid?

La expansión de Medicaid en Mississippi requeriría la acción de la Legislatura estatal y la aprobación del gobernador.

¿Quién está a favor de la expansión de Medicaid y por qué?

Muchos líderes y médicos de la comunidad médica están a favor de la expansión de Medicaid debido a los beneficios financieros que obtendrían sus instituciones. Organizaciones de atención médica como la Asociación Médica del Estado de Mississippi, la Asociación de Hospitales de Mississippi, la Sociedad Estadounidense del Cáncer, la Asociación Estadounidense del Corazón y muchas otras apoyan la expansión. Y los principales líderes empresariales y organizaciones como Delta Council han apoyado públicamente la expansión de Medicaid debido a los beneficios económicos más amplios que generaría.

Los demócratas en la Legislatura, que ejercen poco poder e influencia sobre las principales decisiones de formulación de políticas, y muchos otros funcionarios demócratas electos han apoyado públicamente la expansión de Medicaid durante años. El vicegobernador republicano Delbert Hosemann, líder del Senado estatal, ha destacado repetidamente la necesidad de atención médica para los trabajadores, aunque no llega a abogar por la expansión de Medicaid. Varios otros republicanos legislativos e incluso candidatos estatales republicanos en elecciones recientes han apoyado públicamente la expansión, pero ninguno ha logrado iniciar un debate serio en la Legislatura.

¿Quién se opone a la expansión de Medicaid y por qué?

Los principales líderes republicanos del estado, encabezados por el gobernador Tate Reeves y el presidente de la Cámara Philip Gunn, han rechazado durante mucho tiempo la expansión de Medicaid. Muchos de los argumentos contra la expansión han sido abiertamente políticos y partidistas: oposición contra la expansión de “Obamacare”, a la que muchos republicanos se opusieron desde el principio. Otros son argumentos más filosóficos contra aumentar cualquier gran programa gubernamental o que la atención de la salud debe hacerse a través del sector privado. Pero dos de los principales argumentos de los líderes electos de Mississippi en su contra han sido que el presupuesto estatal no puede permitírselo y que el gobierno federal algún día dejará de pagar la mayor parte y dejará a los contribuyentes estatales con la bolsa.

¿Qué ha pasado en otros estados que han ampliado Medicaid?

Otros estados que han ampliado Medicaid han visto una gran caída en los costos de atención no compensados: los costos que los hospitales deben cubrir para atender a los pacientes sin seguro. Luisiana, nuestro vecino que amplió Medicaid en 2016, experimentó una disminución del 55 % en los costos de atención no compensados ??para los hospitales rurales después de la expansión, y una caída sustancial en las tasas de mortalidad.

¿Por qué los estados tienen la opción de participar en la expansión de Medicaid?

En 2012, la Corte Suprema de los EE. UU. emitió una decisión en un caso que cuestionaba la constitucionalidad de la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio, la ley de reforma radical de la atención médica promulgada en 2010 que tenía como objetivo hacer que el seguro médico fuera más asequible. Un principio importante de la ley fue expandir Medicaid para cubrir a más personas. El tribunal superior confirmó la ley en general, pero dijo que el gobierno federal no podía ordenar que los estados ampliaran Medicaid. Según esa parte del fallo, 12 estados, incluido Mississippi, no han ampliado Medicaid. En Mississippi, las pocas veces que el tema de la expansión de Medicaid ha estado ante cualquiera de las cámaras de la Legislatura es cuando los miembros demócratas han ofrecido enmiendas a otros proyectos de ley relacionados con Medicaid. Las mayorías republicanas han votado regularmente en contra de esas enmiendas.

¿Cuánto pagan los hospitales de Mississippi para atender a las personas que no tienen seguro ni Medicaid?

El costo de la atención no asegurada para el año calendario 2021 se estima en $482 millones. El costo total de la atención no compensada (no asegurados más otros que no pagan el saldo total) es de $594 millones. Los hospitales deben cubrir estos costos por sí mismos, lo que a menudo genera problemas presupuestarios que pueden cerrar un hospital para siempre o requerir recortes drásticos en los servicios de salud ofrecidos. Los efectos de esta atención no compensada solo han empeorado a medida que la pandemia de COVID-19 y los altos costos laborales que la acompañan han afectado financieramente a los hospitales. La expansión de Medicaid fluiría millones por año directamente a los hospitales para ayudarlos a cubrir estos costos.

¿Nuestro programa actual de Medicaid es gratuito? ¿Quién califica para ello?

Medicaid es gratuito para los beneficiarios y está financiado por los gobiernos federal y estatal. Actualmente en Mississippi, varias categorías de personas califican para Medicaid:

• Bebés y niños que viven en familias de bajos ingresos
• Los niños sin seguro cuyos ingresos familiares no excedan el 209 % del nivel federal de pobreza calificarán para el Programa de seguro médico para niños
• Padres y cuidadores de niños menores de edad que viven en el hogar. Los padres deben estar sin el apoyo de uno o ambos padres por incapacidad, muerte o ausencia continuada o que estén desempleados o tengan muy bajos ingresos. Para calificar, el padre o tutor debe cooperar con los requisitos de cumplimiento de manutención infantil para cada niño cuyo padre esté ausente del hogar.
• Mujeres embarazadas con ingresos por debajo del 194% del nivel federal de pobreza. Estas mujeres recibirán beneficios durante dos meses después del parto y luego se les otorgará la exención de planificación familiar.
• Las mujeres embarazadas menores de 19 años califican automáticamente para Medicaid por embarazo.
• Niños discapacitados que requieren un nivel de atención que generalmente se brinda en un hospital o centro de atención a largo plazo, pero que viven en su hogar.
• Trabajador discapacitado: Adultos cuyos ingresos están por debajo de cierto nivel y que trabajan al menos 40 horas por mes.
• Personas ancianas, ciegas o discapacitadas que recibieron Seguridad de Ingreso Suplementario (SSI), quienes anteriormente recibieron SSI y quienes residen en un centro de enfermería o participan en un Programa de Exención de Servicios Basados ??en el Hogar y la Comunidad.

¿Cuánto le cuesta al estado ya los contribuyentes brindar nuestro programa actual de Medicaid?

Los gastos de Medicaid se basan en el uso. Cuantos más beneficiarios de Medicaid vean a los proveedores de atención médica para tratamientos, mayor será el costo. Para el año fiscal actual, la Legislatura asignó $902 millones en fondos estatales para la División de Medicaid y espera recibir $5.79 mil millones en fondos federales. Mississippi, como el estado más pobre de la nación, recibe la mejor tasa equivalente con el gobierno federal que actualmente paga el 84,5 % de los costos de atención médica. El Estado paga el resto. Si no fuera por la emergencia de COVID-19 que está programada para permanecer vigente hasta principios de 2023, el gobierno federal le proporcionaría a Mississippi una tasa equivalente del 77,86 %. Pero actualmente, el gobierno federal paga el 90% de los costos de atención médica para aquellos cubiertos a través de la expansión de Medicaid. Además, el gobierno federal proporcionaría a los estados que no están en expansión un incentivo de dos años para optar por la expansión de Medicaid. Para Mississippi, eso resultaría en más de $600 millones en fondos federales durante dos años.

¿Qué servicios están cubiertos por el programa actual de Medicaid?

Los beneficios completos de Medicaid cubren visitas al consultorio, servicios de planificación familiar, atención hospitalaria para pacientes hospitalizados y ambulatorios, medicamentos recetados, anteojos, servicios de atención a largo plazo y servicios psiquiátricos para pacientes hospitalizados. Medicaid también proporcionará transporte a los beneficiarios elegibles si no tienen otros medios para llegar a las citas médicas. 

¿Cuáles son las diferencias entre Medicaid tradicional y Medicaid ampliado?

La diferencia es que más personas son elegibles bajo Medicaid ampliado. La expansión significaría que las personas que ganan hasta el 138% del nivel federal de pobreza, o $25,000 para una familia de dos, calificarían para los beneficios. Esto incluiría principalmente a padres sanos y de bajos ingresos; adultos de bajos ingresos sin hijos; y muchas personas de bajos ingresos con enfermedades mentales crónicas o discapacidades que luchan por mantener trabajos bien remunerados pero que actualmente no cumplen con los requisitos de discapacidad de Medicaid.

¿Qué es Medicaid posparto y cuál es el debate sobre su extensión?

La ley federal requiere que los estados brinden cobertura de Medicaid relacionada con el embarazo hasta los 60 días posteriores al parto, pero muchas mujeres, particularmente en Mississippi y otros estados que no están en expansión, pierden la cobertura en ese momento además de los servicios básicos de planificación familiar y control de la natalidad. Los profesionales de la salud y los defensores han argumentado que Mississippi necesita extender esa cobertura a un año después del parto como lo han hecho otros 34 estados. Dicen que esto proporcionará mejoras muy necesarias en los resultados de salud de las madres y los bebés en el estado, donde el 60 % de los nacimientos están cubiertos por Medicaid.

A pesar del apoyo bipartidista para extender la cobertura de las decenas de miles de madres cubiertas por Medicaid en Mississippi en el Senado, el presidente de la Cámara, Philip Gunn, eliminó el proyecto de ley en la sesión legislativa de 2022 y sigue oponiéndose. Cita su oposición a la expansión de Medicaid, pero la legislación no habría ampliado la elegibilidad para Medicaid, habría extendido la cobertura para las personas que ya califican.

Mississippi y Wyoming son ahora los únicos dos estados que no tienen cobertura posparto extendida ni expansión de Medicaid.

¿Qué es CHIP y en qué se diferencia de Medicaid?

CHIP significa Programa de Seguro de Salud para Niños y proporciona cobertura de salud para niños sin seguro de hasta 19 años y cuyo ingreso familiar no exceda el 209% del nivel federal de pobreza.

La cobertura, a diferencia de Medicaid para adultos, incluye atención dental y servicios médicos.

El estado agregó recientemente la cobertura de salud mental como un beneficio obligatorio, incluidos los servicios necesarios para prevenir, diagnosticar y tratar una amplia gama de síntomas y trastornos de salud mental.

¿Cuál es la historia de Medicaid?

El Congreso de los Estados Unidos, a instancias del presidente Lyndon Johnson, aprobó Medicaid en 1965 para ofrecer una cobertura de salud de red de seguridad para los estadounidenses pobres. Según la legislación histórica, el gobierno federal y los estados compartirían el pago de los costos del programa. Mississippi fue uno de los últimos estados en optar por el programa tradicional de Medicaid durante una sesión especial de 1969. El gobernador de Mississippi, John Bell Williams, quien convocó la sesión especial, votó en contra del programa Medicaid como miembro del Congreso. Como gobernador, Williams dijo que Mississippi se beneficiaría si opta por el programa Medicaid.

¿Cuántas personas en Mississippi tienen Medicaid ahora?

Hasta julio de 2021, alrededor de 797 000 habitantes de Mississippi estaban inscritos en la cobertura de beneficios completos de Medicaid o en el Programa de seguro médico para niños.

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Acclaimed media critic Margaret Sullivan shared her advice for rebuilding public trust in the media at the Old Capitol Museum Thursday evening, in conversation with Mississippi Today. 

Sullivan was in Jackson for a Mississippi Today event hosted by Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau, where the pair discussed the media’s role in American democracy and her recent memoir “Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) From an Ink-stained Life.”

Sullivan shared background on her career, explaining that the bulk of it was spent in local news working at her hometown paper, the Buffalo News, before becoming The New York Times public editor and subsequently a media columnist at The Washington Post. 

During her time with The Washington Post, Sullivan spent a lot of time talking to people about their thoughts on the press. They frequently expressed frustration with the opinion they saw in news coverage, but she pointed out a paradox she sees in this complaint.

“When people go to watch TV or go on to a website, often what gets the most engagement is the most wild opinion or strongly stated opinion,” Sullivan said. “They may say that they would like it to be just the facts, and actually what they’re seeking out is anything but.” 

 Social media makes this worse because people often share articles without reading them entirely or are only hearing from people they already agree with –  and the decline of local news doesn’t help, she said. While local news is significantly more trusted by the American public, Sullivan said the financial challenges local news is facing have limited its ability to balance national opinion coverage.

In her advice to journalists, Sullivan encouraged media to stay focused on serving in a watchdog role. Reflecting on lessons from the Trump era, she said media organizations cannot continue to give microphones to people that are known liars and worry about fact-checking later. 

“One of the things that makes propaganda work is repetition, so when we put things that are false into a headline, even if we’re going to fact check it … we don’t do anybody any favors,” she said. 

Sullivan said threats to democracy were a top concern for voters during the midterm elections. This shared value gives her hope, particularly in the rejection of election deniers who were running for secretary of state positions across the country. 

She also gave a call to action for members of the public: don’t check out of the news, even if it’s overwhelming.

“I don’t think that’s being a good citizen,” Sullivan said. “Stay tuned in, be an engaged citizen, support journalism – whether that’s by subscribing to a news organization, donating, having conversations with journalists – caring is really important. If you disagree, fine, express that … but what you shouldn’t do is turn away from it, because it’s too important.”

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Senate Public Health Committee Chair Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said no one is tasked with looking at Mississippi’s overall health care system. That is what he hopes to do in an upcoming meeting of the Public Health Committee.

Bryan’s Public Health Committee is slated to meet at 1:15 Monday afternoon at the state Capitol to address the “financial crisis of hospitals in Mississippi.”

State Health Officer Daniel Edney and others have commented on the problems and the possible closure of multiple hospitals across the state.

“This is not just a Delta problem,” Bryan said, backing up Edney and others. “It is an overall state problem.”

When asked what hospitals faced the possibility of closure, Bryan did not answer directly, but said both North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo and Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg “have said they will lose tens of millions of dollars … next year. They can sustain it for a while because they have reserves, and they can do other things.”

But Bryan said if those two medical centers – two of the larger hospitals in the state located in, by Mississippi standards, affluent areas – “are saying that, can you imagine what is happening in other areas?”

Bryan said many entities in the state are tasked with oversight of aspects the health care system, but no one looks at the whole system. He said that is, in part, what will be explored during his committee hearing.

For instance, he said the state Board of Health develops an overall health care plan. That plan would say there needs to be a hospital in Greenwood but would not address how to ensure that is the case.

Ensuring prison inmates are treated close to where they are housed would provide much needed revenue to hospitals in those underserved areas, particularly in the Delta, he said. Another option would be to establish a nursing home for inmates paid for primarily through federally funded Medicaid. That nursing home could be operated by a hospital, giving the medical center funds to help it stay open.

“I don’t know if any of this is feasible, but I do know no one is looking at it,” he said.

Bryan said there has been a long-term problem with Mississippi hospitals, but now there is an acute or immediate problem caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic that has driven up salaries for health care providers, particularly nurses.

He said insurance companies and other factors are pushing the more lucrative medical procedures away from hospitals while leaving the hospitals to perform the less lucrative procedures. Often patients must travel longer distances to undergo the procedures.

Asked whether Medicaid expansion, providing health care to 200,000 or more primarily uninsured Mississippians with mainly federal money would help, he said, “Of course … I will talk about Medicaid expansion forever, but you know, what more can you do?”

Bryan was referring to the fact that opposition from many of the state’s political leaders, primarily Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, have blocked efforts to consider Medicaid expansion that has been adopted by 39 other states.

The Senate hearing is slated to be livestreamed on Mississippi Legislature’s YouTube page.

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The Jackson City Council voted Thursday to enter into an “interim stipulated order” with the United States Government through the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the city’s drinking water violations.

Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay confirmed that the interim order lasts for a year, and includes a third-party administrator. Council President Ashby Foote first told those details to WLBT after the vote, which came after a two-hour meeting among the council in executive session.

The interim order, as EPA Administrator Michael Regan explained this week, will head to a federal judge to officially take effect. Regan described the action as a short-term solution, and said he will come back to Jackson to hold a public dialogue over longer term measures.

“This is a very serious action that we took today, but it is overall a good thing because we are closer to being able to guarantee safe and consistent drinking water for the citizens,” Lindsay said.

All other details of the order are hidden from public view for the time being.

Jackson City Attorney Catoria Martin said during Thursday’s meeting that even though the order would “technically” be a public document after being voted on, she wasn’t sure whether the city could release it until it was filed with the court. Martin said her office also had to go through and “scrub” confidential watermarks from the document.

“I’m disappointed we have to (discuss the order) behind closed doors, but that appears to be the case,” Foote said before asking the media to leave.

The council also voted to allow the mayor to apply for a $3 million grant from the EPA to help comply with drinking water regulations.

On Wednesday, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General announced that it was continuing its investigation that began in September, following two avenues: the office is both evaluating the EPA’s response to Jackson’s drinking water violations, as well as conducting an audit to see how spending decisions at the state and local levels impacted the recent water crisis.

The announcement of the audit follows the EPA’s recent decision to investigate Mississippi’s state agencies for civil rights violations based on how they allocated money for water infrastructure in recent years.

Below is a copy of what the city council voted on Thursday:

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An advocacy coalition filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against the U.S. Department of Transportation and Secretary Pete Buttigieg over a proposed road extension in Gulfport, arguing that the agency hasn’t thoroughly examined potential impacts to the area’s wetlands.

Gulfport officials are proposing the extension of Airport Road to reduce traffic congestion in a growing commercial section of the city.

The DOT approved a final environmental assessment in September, which found that the project, which could cost $48.5 million, would have “no significant impact.”

But the lawsuit’s plaintiffs — the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate and Health Organization (EEECHO), Sierra Club, and Healthy Gulf — say the DOT violated federal regulations by not conducting an environmental impact statement, or EIS, which is required for projects with a certain footprint.

The Federal Highway Administration, under the DOT, only required an environmental assessment, or EA, which has less rigorous requirements than an EIS.

Opponents argue the proposed road extension would worsen flooding in an area that already faces regular inundation, specifically the historic Black neighborhoods of Turkey Creek and Forest Heights.

“Our roads already get flooded, our church parking lot was recently flooded with six inches of water,” Lula Dedeaux, Gulfport Section president of the National Council of Negro
Women, said in a statement. “These wetlands have been recognized as Aquatic Resources of National Importance by the Environmental Protection Agency because they provide vital flood protection to the Forest Heights, North Gulfport, and Turkey Creek communities. The Connector Road will only serve to make these existing and dangerous flooding problems worse.”

The project’s proposal includes building a “retention pond” to provide some flood control, but the EA also states that “should development continue along the alignment, additional stormwater retention would be needed to mitigate stormwater flows.”

DOT awarded the project a $20 million BUILD grant in 2019.

The Sierra Club also argued that the project won’t achieve its advertised benefits.

“The reality is that $48 plus million in taxpayer dollars will do nothing to help traffic congestion,” Louie Miller, state director for Mississippi Sierra Club, said. “It’s clear the goal of this proposal is to promote new commercial development for the enrichment of politically connected, private real estate developers, at the expense of the local community.”

Mississippi Today reached out to the DOT and the city of Gulfport for comment.

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Mississippi has scheduled the execution of a former military recruiter who raped and murdered a teenage waitress in north Mississippi. 

Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., 58,  is scheduled to be executed Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. 

“After due consideration, the Court finds that Loden has exhausted all state and federal remedies for purposes of setting an execution date,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in a Thursday order. 

Six justices joined Randolph to approve the execution order and the remaining two denied granting the execution. 

In 2000, Loden kidnapped 16-year-old Lessa Marie Gray, after seeing her stranded on the side of the road in Dorsey in Itawamba County. 

After seeing the girl working at Comer’s Restaurant, he flattened a tire on her car and waited for Gray to leave work, according to court documents. Loden pulled up next to Gray’s car and offered to help, telling her he was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. 

When she replied to his question about wanting to become a Marine, Loden became upset and forced Gray into his van, according to court documents. He sexually assaulted her and then killed her by strangulation and suffocation. 

Loden, a gunnery sergeant and a Marine recruiter in Vicksburg, was on a 10-day leave and in the area to visit his grandmother’s farm.

The next day, police found his van on the farm and transported it to New Albany for a state crime scene investigation team to examine, according to court documents. Inside they found Gray’s body. 

In 2001, Loden was sentenced to death and an additional 150 years for rape and sexual battery. 

He sought appeals and post-conviction relief, but those requests were denied. 

In October, the attorney general’s office filed a motion to set an execution date for Loden. 

Loden’s attorney asked for the execution to be stayed because a 1983 civil lawsuit he joined challenging the method of execution is still active. The state argued the lawsuit does not challenge Loden’s conviction or sentence. 

The last person to be executed in Mississippi was David Neal Cox on Nov. 17, 2021. His execution was the first after a nine-year break. 

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Deion Sanders was asked earlier this week if he was proud of his son, Shedeur, for being named Jackson State’s finalist for the C Spire Conerly Trophy.

“Well, I’d like to see him win,” Sanders said, chuckling. “We were there last year, got all dressed up and all that. You don’t want to get dressed up and go there and see somebody else win a durn trophy. We’re winners. We want to win.”

Shedeur Sanders surely might win the Conerly. He ranks among the top two or three favorites. He is the quarterback of an undefeated, nationally ranked team. He has thrown 31 touchdowns, just five interceptions. He is resourceful and he is accurate. He is a winner.

But he is no slam dunk.

Quinshon Judkins, the Ole Miss freshman running back, surely deserves strong consideration. At times looking like a reincarnation of the great Walter Payton, Judkins has rushed for 1,117 yards and 15 touchdowns through 10 games. He has been at his best against some of the most talented defenses in the country.

Just look at Judkins’ last four games: 135 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama, 205 yards and a touchdown against Texas A&M, 111 yards and two touchdowns against LSU, 139 yards and two touchdowns against Auburn.

This is no flippant comparison I make to Payton, the greatest all-around back these eyes have ever seen. I once asked Hall of Fame linebacker D.D. Lewis who was the toughest man he ever had to tackle. Lewis laughed before he answered. “Walter Payton, not even close,” D.D. said. “Trying to tackle Walter was like trying to tackle a 210-pound bowling ball.”

Judkins is much like that. Payton was 5 foot, 10 inches tall and weighed 210. Judkins is 5-11 and weighs 210. Judkins, as Payton, explodes through the line. When he gets hit, the battle has just begun. He bounces off defenders, runs through arm tackles, cuts on a dime, and his helmet always comes out at the end of any pile-up. When you tackle Judkins, it hurts you worse than it hurts him, as was always the case with Payton.

This is not to say that Quinshon Judkins is another Walter Payton. It’s much too early for that. But keep in mind, Judkins just turned 19 last month. He should only get stronger.

Judkins and Shedeur Sanders have plenty of top-flight company among the Conerly finalists:

• Delta State quarterback Patrick Shegog has thrown for 2,485 yards and run for 685 yards for a team that has won 10 games and is about to enter the Division II playoffs. 
• Mississippi State junior cornerback Emmanuel Forbes ranks second in the nation in pass interceptions with five and has tied a Southeastern Conference record with five career pick-sixes (touchdown interceptions).
• Southern Miss wide receiver Jason Brownlee, despite USM playing musical quarterbacks due to injuries, has caught 44 passes for 687 yards and six touchdowns. He’s tall, rangy and fast. You will be watching Brownlee on Sundays.
• Alcorn running back Jarveon Howard leads the SWAC in rushing with 1,174 yards. Howard, a Syracuse transfer, runs with both power and speed and has scored 11 touchdowns.

Other finalists include Mississippi Valley State defensive tackle Ronnie Thomas, Belhaven linebacker Conner Fordham, Mississippi College running back Marcus Williams, and Millsaps wide receiver/kick returner Moise Tezzo. 

Important to note: Each finalist was selected by the college or university he represents. The Conerly will be presented at a banquet Nov. 29 at the Country Club of Jackson.

Yes, I have a vote, and, no, I have not decided. The deadline for voting is Nov. 27. There are vitally important games to be played before then.

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The head of Greenwood Leflore Hospital said the hospital is working with the city, county and members of the business community to secure the funding needed to keep the hospital open through the legislative session.

In the meantime, the hospital has announced it will close the Greenwood Pulmonology Clinic and the Greenwood Primary Care Clinic as of Nov. 30. The hospital has recently laid off as many as 80 employees and shuttered services including its labor and delivery unit.

The 208-bed hospital is currently operating with a total of 18 inpatient beds.  

Interim Chief Executive Officer Gary Marchand said the hospital’s long-term hopes hinge on legislative action and gaining federal Critical Access or Rural Emergency Hospital status. Hospitals with these designations receive enhanced federal payments for certain services among other benefits.

“The legislature will have the opportunity to address a proposed increase in hospital funding for Medicaid and uninsured patients that will help protect the hospital’s cost structure,” Marchand wrote in a memo to employees Thursday. 

Though Marchand declined to specify what proposal he was referring to, Richard Roberson of the Mississippi Hospital Association said he was likely referring to an item on the Mississippi Hospital Association’s legislative agenda: additional funding from Medicaid to hospitals. 

Hospitals in Mississippi currently receive payments beyond the base rate for Medicaid called “supplemental payments.” These include disproportionate share payments intended to offset hospitals’ uncompensated care costs and improve access for Medicaid and uninsured patients as well as protect hospitals’ finances. 

Roberson, the association’s vice president for policy and state advocacy, was not able to provide further details on the amount and type of supplemental funding being proposed on Thursday.  

In the meantime, the hospital is working with the city, county and business community to shore up funding.

The move comes after months of negotiations with the University of Mississippi Medical Center ended abruptly earlier this month. Hospital officials said at the time that without an agreement with UMMC to lease the hospital, it could close before the end of the year.

Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs at UMMC, said the agreement was not possible due to several factors, the primary one being “the current realities of health care economics that all health systems are facing in this challenging environment.” 

This year is on track to be the worst financial year for health care systems nationally – driven mainly by the labor shortage and the increased costs of employing expensive contract nurses.

UMMC reported a more than $8 million loss in its first quarter of this fiscal year, according to a presentation made by its Chief Financial Officer Nelson Weichold. 

More than half of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure, new data from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform shows. The state has the largest number of rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure in the nation at 24.

Editor’s note: Kate Royals, Mississippi Today’s community health editor since January 2022, worked as a writer/editor for UMMC’s Office of Communications from November 2018 through August 2020, writing press releases and features about the medical center’s schools of dentistry and nursing.

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A federal appeals court has formally blocked the Biden administration’s student debt cancellation plan, meaning borrowers who expected to see up to $20,000 in loan cancellation this fall must now wait indefinitely for a resolution in the lawsuit. 

The issue at hand is, in part, how the plan could affect tax revenue and funding for higher education in Missouri. The state is home to MOHELA, one of the largest student loan holders and servicers in the country, which would lose significant revenue if the federal government closed its accounts through debt forgiveness. 

“Whatever the eventual outcome of this case, it will affect the finances of millions of Americans with student loan debt as well as those Americans who pay taxes to finance the government and indeed everyone who is affected by such far-reaching fiscal decisions,” the court wrote. 

In Mississippi, Biden’s plan, if enacted, could be a boon in tax revenue as the state plans to tax student debt cancellation as income – the way it typically taxes all forms of debt cancellation. It remains to be seen, however, how the Mississippi Department of Revenue will carry out this plan as servicers are not furnishing the tax forms that borrowers need to file student debt cancellation. 

Nearly 439,000 Mississippians have federal student loans that are eligible for debt cancellation, according to the Education Data Initiative, and therefore taxable in Mississippi.

This week’s decision is the result of a lawsuit that made its way to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, filed by six conservative states (Mississippi is not a plaintiff in this lawsuit). The news followed a ruling from a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas that the program, enacted under the Biden administration’s executive authority, is unconstitutional. It is likely the plan will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The slew of Republican-led lawsuits have already forced the Biden administration to disable the online application and make some changes to its plan. In court filings, the department is now signaling it could extend the moratorium on student loan repayment – scheduled to sunset on Dec. 31 of this year – as it expects a “historically large increase in the amount of federal student loan delinquency and defaults as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

The department has said it will continue to defend the plan in court. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has twice rejected emergency challenges to the plan. 

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said that the plan is “lawful and necessary to give borrowers and working families breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and to ensure they succeed when repayment restarts.” 

According to the White House, more than half of the 26 million Americans eligible for debt relief were approved. In Mississippi, the plan would have benefited primarily Black, brown and low-income borrowers, who nationally and in Mississippi have higher averages of student debt than white, wealthier borrowers.  

The department had initially said it would start approving forgiveness as early as mid-November. 

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