OurTupelo

Mississippi Today’s political team discusses how a Mississippi medical marijuana program may be growing less likely as lawmakers cannot seem to get on the same page. 

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side.

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On this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey visits with U.S.S. Alabama museum technician Matthew McCluney. McCluney, a Gautier resident, talks about his passion for preserving a giant piece of American and Naval history.

The U.S.S. Alabama, launched in 1942 during World War 2, is a veteran of both the Battle of the Atlantic and numerous combat actions against the Japanese in the Pacific. Mothballed after the war, the 45,000-ton U.S.S. Alabama was presented to the citizens of Alabama in 1965 and towed to Mobile’s U.S.S. Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. The park also is home to the Gato-Class submarine U.S.S. Drum, 45 historic aircraft and various artillery pieces.

McCluney has created numerous exhibits throughout the ship and along with his teammates helps keep the Alabama shipshape for the nearly 18 million visitors who have visited it throughout the years and for those who will visit it in the future.

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Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann believes a plea to Mississippians’ better angels ultimately will lead to Medicaid expansion.

Granted, Hosemann does not utter the phrase “better angels,” but listen closely and it is obvious that he is appealing to them. He also does not want to use the term “Medicaid expansion.” Instead, he would rather discuss everyday scenarios of working Mississippians who suffer, who die because they don’t have access to health insurance.

Hosemann said legislation to provide that health care access will pass “when we start focusing on real life Mississippians… who are really suffering who don’t have to be, who are dying leaving their children motherless. I think we have a sense of values in Mississippi, and I think that will be energized by that discussion.”

Hosemann recently was asked by a reporter about the possibility of expanding Medicaid.

“What is expansion of Medicaid? That is a lazy question,” Hosemann retorted. “What you need to be thinking about is how are we going to cover people who are working in Mississippi who have catastrophic illnesses? That is the real question.”

Hosemann told media members they need to focus on real life consequences instead of “some nomenclature that is three presidents ago.”

Granted, Medicaid expansion was enacted during the first term of former President Barack Obama in 2009. But in fairness to the media, the original Medicaid program was enacted during the 1960s and Social Security was created in the 1930s, yet their names have not changed.

But in fairness to the lieutenant governor, he understands the value of providing health care access and because of the political rhetoric in the state he cannot state the obvious: that the most cost-efficient way to provide health care is by expanding Medicaid as is allowed under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Under Medicaid expansion, estimates show, between 100,000 to 300,000 primarily working Mississippians, who currently have no insurance, can gain health care with the federal government paying the bulk of the cost. Multiple studies have found that Medicaid expansion will save the state money because of the influx of federal funds.

The two politicians who make it nearly impossible to expand Medicaid in Mississippi are Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn who often, boldly proclaim their opposition to Obamacare.

Perhaps Hosemann, ignoring the political rhetoric and turning focus to helping Mississippians, is also appealing to the better angels of Reeves and Gunn, who often speak of the importance of their Christian faith.

It complicates matters because it is possible — some say likely — that Gunn will square off against Reeves in the 2023 Republican primary for governor, and because of the staunch Mississippi Republicans who will vote in that primary, neither candidate wants to be seen as supporting Obamacare.

Recent polling indicates that Mississippi politicians’ fear of being linked to Obamacare might be exaggerated. A January 2022 poll by AARP found that 68% of Mississippians over the age of 50, including 57% of Republicans polled, favor expanding Medicaid. Other polls, such as those conducted by Chism Research and Millsaps College, have shown similar results.

But polls have not moved Gunn and Reeves.

“I just don’t think that Medicaid expansion is realistic,” Gunn said last week. “Personally, I’m not for it. I’ve been very clear that I’m against it. I don’t see that as a way forward in Mississippi. We need to be looking for ways to get people off Medicaid, not put them on Medicaid. But the bottom line is it’s all an academic discussion until you’ve got the votes (in the supermajority Republican Legislature), and I don’t think the votes exist.”

The cold hard truth that Hosemann knows is that as long as Gunn and Reeves are opposed, the votes won’t exist.

So instead of talking about expanding Medicaid, Hosemann would rather tell the story of a mother of two in Greenwood who worked as a store clerk and was married to a mechanic. Like most people working in similar jobs, she did not have health insurance. Her employer did not provide it, and she could not afford to purchase private coverage.

She developed breast cancer but delayed seeing a doctor because of the lack of insurance.

“By the time she got to the hospital, they could just give her palliative care and she died,” Hosemann said. “And that is happening in Mississippi to working people… Rather than get into some easy question like that (about expanding Medicaid), I think we ought to start focusing on how we provide health care to working Mississippians.

“I think when we do that it takes down a lot of the barriers that may have been built on political discourse.”

Then, Hosemann believes, Mississippians will hear and listen to their better angels.

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Nearing the end of a week in which Mississippi recorded a record number of COVID-19 infections, a majority being the heavily infectious omicron variant, state health officials are warning of the weeks to come and emphasizing the need for residents to stay up to date on their vaccinations.

“We know we’ve got some weeks ahead of us of severe stress, and the health system especially, is going to be going through a lot of pains,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during a Friday press conference. 

Currently, around 73% of positive tests being sequenced in the state are showing omicron infections. State Epidemiologist Paul Byers said that while an omicron infection does produce milder illness than the delta variant, the sheer number of cases the state is currently seeing will translate to increased hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks. This problem is almost certain to be exacerbated by the low number of monoclonal antibody and antiviral pill treatments the state is receiving.

As of Friday, only 11 ICU beds were available across the state’s level one and two hospitals. Over the past week alone, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has increased 64% and the number of those patients on ventilators has increased by 50%.

Some Mississippi patients have had to be transferred out of state since the omicron wave began due to the lack of open, staffable beds. If this wave of infections overwhelms the hospital system like delta, health officials said it’s unlikely the system will be propped up by the travel nurses and field hospitals utilized during that wave. 

“I don’t know that we’re going to be able to draw in the type of staffing levels that we saw in delta from anywhere in the country right now, including some of these federal resources,” Jim Craig, Senior Deputy and Director of MSDH’s Office of Health Protection, said. 

Dobbs also urged Mississippians to avoid going to already overwhelmed emergency rooms for COVID-19 testing. Many have gone to an ER for testing in recent weeks, as they were unable to purchase an at-home test or schedule one at a clinic or testing site over the holidays. 

“We’ll do what we can from a health department perspective, but please understand that emergency rooms are for emergencies,” Dobbs said. 

The state is getting 50,000 additional rapid antigen tests next week, and is expanding the number of testing slots and locations when possible. 

Most of the cases Mississippi is seeing during the omicron wave are among younger individuals, with the most rapid growth in the 25-39 age group. The most severe illness is occurring in those aged 65 and older. The majority of hospitalizations and 65% of the deaths seen in January have occurred in this age group.

While pediatric hospitalizations are low, they’re still present in Mississippi. As of Friday, 19 children diagnosed with COVID-19 are hospitalized at Children’s of Mississippi, the state’s only hospital specifically for kids and teens. Four of those patients are in intensive care and two are on ventilators. 

The vaccination rate among children and teenagers in Mississippi is much lower than any other age groups and the same groups in neighboring states. Only 36% of kids in the 12-17 age group are fully vaccinated, and only 5% of 5-11 year-olds are. 

“We do need to get more children fully vaccinated. That’s what’s gonna keep children out of the hospital and out of the ICU,” Byers said. 

Health officials are also urging Mississippians to stay up to date on their vaccinations, which now includes getting a booster shot if you’re eligible. Byers said that only 2% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have occurred in individuals who were fully vaccinated and received a booster. The vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated. 

Anyone ages 12 and up can get a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine five months after their primary regimen. Anyone ages 18 and up can get a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine five months after their primary regimen, or a Johnson & Johnson booster two months after. You can schedule a vaccination appointment at your local health department office here.

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The 2nd Congressional District will meander the almost length of the state along the Mississippi River under the congressional redistricting plan approved 76-42 Thursday by Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The plan approved Thursday was created by a joint redistricting committee composed of legislators appointed by Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn and Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.

The House plan is likely to be taken up next week in the Senate. If it passes there, it will be sent to Gov. Tate Reeves, who can sign it into law or veto it.

Republicans enjoy a supermajority in both the House and Senate, meaning they can pass redrawn district maps and other key legislation without a single Democratic vote.

House Democrats, who oppose the plan, said it created a district too large for incumbent 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson — or anyone — to adequately represent. The proposed district would move a large portion of southwest Mississippi from the 3rd to 2nd District.

Rep. Robert Johnson, the House Democratic leader from Natchez, a city that would be affected, offered an alternative plan that would have moved all of Hinds County and a portion of southern Madison County from the 3rd to the 2nd but left southwest Mississippi in the 3rd.

The alternative offered by Johnson and the Democrats was defeated along party lines. The plan offered by the Republican leadership was passed along party lines.

(Story continues below the proposed map. The state’s current congressional map can be found at the bottom of this story.)

Johnson said the plan offered by the Republican leadership “certainly is not compact. The district is almost 300 miles long, takes up nearly half the state. It is almost impossible for one congressman to represent the district.”

The district includes 40 of the state’s 82 counties and 40% of the land mass of the state.

House Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who is on the Redistricting Committee and offered the proposal to the House, said redrawing the congressional districts was made more difficult because the 2nd District, which includes most of the Delta and portions of the Jackson metro area, lost 65,000 people. The other three districts all had slight population increases with the 4th, which includes the Gulf Coast, growing the most at nearly 5%.

White said the plan offered by Johnson splits fast-growing Madison County, which he did not want to do. On the other hand, White said it made sense to split Hinds, the state’s largest county in terms of population and also home to Jackson, the state’s capital city.

“I think it is good that two different congressmen represent Jackson and Hinds County,” White said. “There is more clout with two different congressmen.”

Johnson said Guest was not representing the interests of Jackson and Hinds County since he voted against bills that provide funds to help the capital city with its infrastructure needs.

White also said that it made sense to include areas of southwest Mississippi in the current 2nd District because it created a district along the Mississippi River where there were “communities of interest,” which is one of the mandates from the courts in drawing districts.

But Johnson countered southwest Mississippi, where he lives, depends on oil, timber and cattle like areas of the 3rd, while the current 2nd consisted of areas of metro Hinds County and the soybean, cotton crops and other crops of the Delta.

READ MORE: Groups allege Redistricting Committee violated public meetings law

Thompson, the state’s lone Democratic and Black congressmen, had voiced support for moving all of Hinds into his 2nd District. Guest of the 3rd District opposed the move. The plan offered by Johnson is essentially the same plan proposed by the state chapter of the NAACP.

Both the plan offered by the House Republican leadership and the plan offered by Johnson maintained the 2nd District with an African American population of more than 60%. To significantly reduce the African American population in the district would run afoul of current federal law.

The plan approved by the House moves Adams, Amite, Franklin and Walthall counties in southwest Mississippi  to District 2. The only river county not in District 2 under the plan is DeSoto, a Republican-heavy suburb of Memphis in northwest Mississippi.

The state must redistrict every 10 years to adhere to population shifts gleaned by the decennial census, based on both federal and state laws. But after both the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the Legislature was unable to agree on a U.S House redistricting plan, leaving it to the federal courts to draw the districts. Legislative leaders have vowed not to let that occur this year.

The redistricting plan is the first piece of legisaltion taken up in the 2022 session which convened earlier this week. The reason for the urgency to take up the congressional plan is that elections are slated later this year and the deadline for candidates to qualify to run for the congressional seats is March 1. Legislators are expected to take up a plan to redraw their own 174 House and Senate districts later in the session since their elections are not until 2023.

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